Pickin' Splinters

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Late run carries Rush-Henrietta past Penfield

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Rush-Henrietta’s Jalen Taggart (3) throws down a dunk during the Royal Comets 73-61 victory over host Penfield on Friday, January 31, 2025. Talhah Ali (21) reacts in the backgorund. (Photo: DENNIS JOYCE)

By PAUL GOTHAM

PENFIELD, N.Y. — Jalen Taggart topped the 30-point mark for the third time this season, and teammate Talhah Ali had a season-high effort as Rush-Henrietta (14-0) remained unbeaten with a 73-61 victory over host Penfield, Friday night.

The duo combined for all of the points in a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter as the Royal Comets pulled away from a one-possession game.

Leading 60-57, Taggart converted a pair of free throws. Ali followed with a corner three, his second triple of the final frame, and Taggart delivered a traditional 3-point play when he finished a runner with contact and hit an ensuing free throw.

“The energy came back and they got their second wind in that fourth quarter,” second-year R-H coach Calvin Betts said of his team. “It’s just the energy. It’s the standard that we talk about. If we play to our standard, that high-level defensive basketball, we can do that to a lot of teams.”

Taggart added another from the charity stripe on the next trip down the floor as the Royal Comets scored on five straight possessions to take a 69-57 lead with 54.9 seconds remaining in the game.

VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM DENNIS JOYCE. 

“I was telling the guys no matter what the score is, we zero-zero,” Betts said. “I was preaching to the guys in those last three or four minutes, some of it was getting to us but you got have a next-play mentality…You just got to go to a next play. You can make it up on defense. You can stop somebody. You can always get an offensive rebound or a loose ball.”

Taggart scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter. The junior guard hit four 3-pointers on the night and converted 9-of-12 from the free-throw line.

“He’s an amazing player,” Betts said. “He’s an amazing talent. He competes and gets after it. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

He had a similar impact when the Monroe County foes met in mid-December.

“It’s the second game in a row he’s lit us up,” said Penfield head coach Jason Ellis whose squad dropped a 68-60 decision to R-H earlier in the year when Taggart scored 27. “At one point, Jackson (Penfield guard, Green) had two hands in his face and he pulled up from the volleyball line. It was nothing but nylon, man. It’s a tough team.”

At the same time, Ali hit three from distance on the night as part of a 17-point performance that nearly doubled his previous best effort of nine points.

“This is Ali,” Betts said. “We knew with Ali coming into the season, he’s a player…We needed him to step up, and he did his job.”

“They’re just a really good team,” said Ellis whose squad had won 10 straight heading into Friday’s action. “When they made that final run, it was not so much about who wanted it more, but who was able to put the ball in the hoop. We got stuck. They did a good job. We did a good job. They did a slightly better job.”

Rush-Henrietta (No. 18 NYSSWA Class AAA) took a 24-8 lead into the second quarter and pushed the advantage to 19.

The Patriots (13-2) rallied and cut the deficit to seven heading into halftime.

Christian Zarzycki’s 3-pointer capped a 10-0 run, and Penfield had a 41-39 edge with 3:58 remaining in the third. The teams exchanged leads three times before Taggart finished a thunderous dunk as a part of another 3-point play to give R-H a lead it did not surrender at 45-43.

“That’s a run that’s tough to sustain for an entire 32-minute span,” Ellis said of having to erase the double-digit deficit from the first half.

Earlier in the week, Penfield (No. 6 NYSSWA Class AA) handed Greece Athena (No. 2 NYSSWA Class AA) its first loss of the season. On Friday, the Patriots were forced to chase the game and ran out of energy late.

“It was one of those night when it wasn’t ours,” Ellis said. “We’re really tough. We’re a scary, difficult team. We’d like to play them again. It just wasn’t our night.”

Green led Penfield with 17 points. Patrick Emling added 16, and CJ Johnson had 11.

Avery Council had 13 for R-H. Jahquin Brown accounted for eight points. Friday was the second time Taggart has scored 31 points in a game. He had a season-high 33 against Lockport. He is averaging 24.4 points per game.

R-H travels to play Webster Schroeder next Wednesday. A 7 p.m. tip-off is scheduled.

Penfield travels as well next Wednesday for a 7:15 p.m. start at Hilton.

RUSH-HENRIETTA
Jahquin Brown 3 0-2 8, Jalen Taggart 9 9-12 31, Avery Council 5 2-2 13, Amir Abdul-Haqq 2 0-0 4, Talhah Ali 7 0-0 17, Dan Schmitz 0 0-0 TOTALS 26 11-16 — 73

PENFIELD
Jackson Green 6 5-6 17, CJ Johnson 5 0-0 11, Gabe Reyes 2 0-0 5, Michael Moxley 1 0-1 2, Patrick Emling 5 6-9 16, Christian Zarzycki 2 0-0 5, Jake McCarthy 2 1-3 5 TOTALS. 23 12-19 — 61

RUSH-HENRIETTA 24 10 18 21 — 73
PENFIELD 8 19 19 15 — 61

3-point goals: RUSH-HENRIETTA 10 (Brown 2, Taggart 4, Council 1, Ali 3); PENFIELD 3 (Johnson 1, Reyes 1, Zarzycki 1).

Rush-Henrietta’s Avery Council (5) looks to use the dribble to get in the lane. Penfield’s Michael Moxley (10) defends on the play. (Photo: DENNIS JOYCE)

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