By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Felipe Carter and Amari Holland had bookend performances, and the Edison Tech Inventors defeated the Hilton Cadets, 79-58 in the opening round of Class AA sectionals.
Holland connected on three first-half 3-pointers, and Carter hit all four of his triples in the second half as Edison Tech (12-9) advanced to take on No. 1-seed Fairport in the Saturday’s quarter-final round.
Holland sparked a 7-0 spurt coming out of the locker room at half, and Edison turned a five-point game into double-digit affair.
“Going into the third quarter we were really just trying to play team ball,” Edison coach Jake Scott said. “Penetrate and kicking it out, finding the open teammate.”
Holland started the quarter with a floater in the lane. Marique Simkin found Jahrel Holt on the break for two, and Chaz McKinney connected from behind the arc. Edison led 41-29.
“Not allowing any more second-chance attempts,” Scott said of the attitude coming out of the locker room. “That was what we harped on. I kinda got on our big bigs, but also our entire team. Just about rebounding the ball. No more second-chance shots.”
Carter hit his first trey to give the Inventors a 52-41 lead. His two free throws at the end of the third quarter made it 54-43, and the Cadets could not cut the margin to single digits again.
Holland paced Edison early. The senior guard hit two treys and scored 10 straight to give the Inventors a lead they did not surrender at 12-7.
Amari Holland connects on one of three first-half triples for Edison. pic.twitter.com/GO7A7Krypf
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 22, 2017
But Hilton (9-12) would not go away.
Freshman Tah-Jae Hill netted six of his game-high 20 in the second quarter as the Cadets stayed within striking distance. Mitchell Carr‘s bucket breaking the press made it a 30-26 game with less than four minutes remaining in the half.
“Hilton was doing a good job getting into the middle on us,” Scott explained. “They just did a great job of getting their shots up and out.”
After leading 5-2 early in the game, the Cadets never regained the advantage.
With 4:19 to go and leading by 14, Edison took a timeout and switched to zone defense. The Inventors held Hilton without a field goal over the next seven possessions, a stretch that included four turnovers. Carter’s final three pushed the advantage to 20 at 75-55.
Holland scored 19. Carter added 16. Simkin had 15 points and 12 assists.
Hilton’s Hill led all scorers with 20. Chris Ranke chipped in 11.
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