Eagles Secure Senior Night Win In Courtwarming Game
Defending Home Court… Eagle senior guard Tyler Hankins (22) guards a Carrollton ball handler during Holden’s Courtwarming and Senior Night game against the Trojans on Tuesday, Jan. 31. Hankins scored 15 points on the night as Holden defeated Carrollton by the final score of 77-62. Photo by Steve Edwards
The Holden boys basketball team celebrated both a Senior Night victory, and a Courtwarming win by defeating Carrollton in the final score of 77-62 on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Holden senior basketball players Josh Taylor, Tyler Hankins, and Travis Bruns were recognized on the court before the varsity boys basketball game. Earlier in the evening, Taylor was crowned as Courtwarming King.
“I was glad we were able to celebrate senior night with a good game, and a win,” said Holden boys basketball coach Nathan Martin. “Both Tyler and Josh had good offensive games with Tyler scoring 15, and Josh scoring 18.
“Carollton got off to a quick start making some threes, but after that I thought we were smarter about how we defended and really rebounded the ball well.”
Holden held a 12-11 lead after a quarter of play, and extended to a 32-23 lead at halftime.
Eagle junior guard Aiden Morarity put up 10 points in the second period as Holden separated from Carrollton in the contest. Morarity would finish with a career-high 41 points, and establish a new Holden school record for points scored in a game. A few days earlier, Morarity surpassed the 1,000-point scoring mark for his high school career in a game at the Crest Ridge Tournament.
“Aiden had a huge night scoring 41 to set a single game school record for points in a game, which was cool to see since we honored him for scoring 1,000 points in his career before the game,” highlighted coach Martin.
Holden would outscore Carrollton in all four quarters of the game, posting a 25-20 advantage in the third, and a 20-19 edge in the fourth.
“We will miss Tyler, Josh, and Travis,” said coach Martin. “Tyler does a lot of little things for us that don’t always show up in the stat book. He has really bought into taking charges on the defensive side of the floor which really helps us. He has over 20 charges taken this season.
“Josh really helps us in transition,” continued coach Martin. “When he gets the ball off a rebound or a steal, and is able to push it down the floor, he can be really hard to stop. His scoring has helped us this season. He is averaging just over 13 points-per-game.
“Travis has been one of my favorite players to coach,” said coach Martin. “He is one of the hardest workers we have had in our program, and is extremely coachable. When he makes mistakes, he is open and willing to listen to coaching to try and help himself and the team. These traits are rare, and I’m glad he has been with us the past four years.”
Following Morarity’s record-setting 41 points, Taylor’s total of 18, and Hankins hitting for 15, freshman Cohen Drake drained 2 points, and Reco Jenkins scored 1 point.
With last week’s win, the Eagles completed the home-away conference season series sweep of the Trojans after defeating Carrollton on the road in early December.
Following a road loss to Richmond to close out last week, the Holden boys basketball team held an overall record of 9-13, and stood at 3-5 in MRVC-East play.
The next game for the Holden boys basketball team is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 14, in a conference game at Lexington.
