How a Lanphier guard seized control in CS8 win

Trevor Lawrence, State Journal-Register
·4 min read
Lanphier's Jaiquan Holman drive toward the basket during the game against Southeast High School Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.
Lanphier's Jaiquan Holman drive toward the basket during the game against Southeast High School Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.

For one half, it was the Seth Doss show when the forward spearheaded Southeast to a four-point halftime lead over Lanphier in a Central State Eight Conference matchup on Tuesday.

Then guard JaiQuan Holman stepped in for Lanphier to provide a much-needed spark.

Holman scored the first seven points of the second half and jump-started the Lions with an 11-0 run as Lanphier pulled out a 60-54 victory over its crosstown rival at Lober-Nika Gymnasium.

Holman made 8 of 16 field goals, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and finished with 31 points and seven rebounds. His energy was needed after Lanphier trailed 29-17 midway through the second period and 32-28 at intermission.

Southeast High School's James Folayan, left, goes up for a shot while being guarded by Lanphier's Jessie Bates III during the game Tuesday Dec. 6. 2022.
Southeast High School's James Folayan, left, goes up for a shot while being guarded by Lanphier's Jessie Bates III during the game Tuesday Dec. 6. 2022.

“JaiQuan is kind of the engine that makes us go, and when he has a good game like that, everybody seems to fall in line,” Lanphier coach Blake Turner said. “I think we got dominated from a toughness standpoint, which led to us taking a lot of long 3s, not getting to the basket a lot, and getting killed on the glass. I told the kids (at halftime), ‘I’m going to challenge them about toughness and being tough.’ We came out that third quarter and won all the loose balls.”

Southeast held a 27-14 rebound advantage at the half, thanks to Doss’ 11 boards. He had 20 points at the break, hitting 6 of 11 field goals while going 8-for-11 from the free-throw line. Doss concluded the night with 31 points on 8 of 20 shooting, went 15-for-21 from the line and grabbed 16 rebounds.

“We weren’t challenging Seth in the first half,” Turner said. “Seth is a great player and one of the best big men in this league. For him to have a double-double at halftime was beyond me. I felt like he was bullying our guys and I called (my players) out on that. We wanted to respond to that, and I think they came out and matched Seth’s energy in the second half and that was a huge difference.”

Holman took the challenge to heart, despite already having 19 of Lanphier’s 28 points by halftime. His three buckets that included a 3-pointer, gave Lanphier a 35-32 lead. Then forward Austin Robinson lobbed a pass to Shaun Hatchett Jr., and the sophomore threw down a dunk to bring the Lanphier faithful out of their seats to pad the lead.

Lanphier's Cameryn Davis goes up for a shot during the game against Southeast High School Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.
Lanphier's Cameryn Davis goes up for a shot during the game against Southeast High School Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.

The quick turnaround by Lanphier (4-2 overall, 2-1 in the CS8) stunned Southeast and the Spartans didn’t score their first bucket until Doss made a field goal with 3 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the third period.

“I just had to be a leader and step up,” said Holman, who was one of four players that fouled out in the game. “I felt like just give me the ball and I’ll make a play. We had to stick together the whole time and believe in each other.”

It looked bleak for Lanphier in the early going when Robinson picked up his third foul with 7:50 left in the second period and had to sit for the rest of the half. The Lions made just 7 of 21 (33.3%) shots and had nine turnovers at the break.

Lanphier's Jessie Bates III, right, fights for the ball with Southeast High Schools Chandler Clayton during the game Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.
Lanphier's Jessie Bates III, right, fights for the ball with Southeast High Schools Chandler Clayton during the game Tuesday Dec. 6, 2022.

“One thing that concerns me is we had 111 turnovers through six games and that’s got to change,” Turner said.

Lanphier still finished with 23 turnovers on Tuesday, but went 10-for-17 (58.8%) from the floor in the second half and eventually finished tied with Southeast in rebounds at 38 apiece. Hatchett Jr. had a big 3-pointer that stretched Lanphier’s lead to 55-44 with 4:19 to go in the final quarter. He ended with 13 points and 10 boards, and Robinson added eight points and 11 rebounds.  

“Austin is the grandfather of the team, he’s our senior captain and a four-year varsity player.” Turner said. “I expressed my displeasure with his first half and I challenged him to come out and have a huge second half, and he really responded well.”

“When (Shaun) realizes how good of a defender he can be with his athleticism, then he’s really going to take off. He hit some big shots down the stretch for us and got some huge rebounds.”

Southeast, which went 2-for-17 from 3-point range in a 47-39 win over Springfield High at Showcase Saturday, followed that up with a 1-for-17 performance from beyond the arc against Lanphier. The Spartans missed their first 15 3-point attempts until James Folayan hit a trey to cut their deficit to 57-49 with 2:33 to go in the game. Southeast went 16-for-60 (26.7%) from the field.

Marquez Small contributed eight points and six rebounds for the Spartans (2-4, 1-2).

Contact Trevor Lawrence: 788-1548, trevor.lawrence@sj-r.com.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: JaiQuan Holman scores 31; Lanphier rallies past Southeast