Ahead of the state tournament, Holland School of Technology collected a key non-league win.
Yassine Amghar scored 20 points while Jasaad Fenton added 19 as Holland defeated Abington, 87-70, in boys basketball action on Tuesday night.
The win for the Bulldogs, who entered the day as the Division 4 number two seed of the MIAA Power Rankings, is their 12th in the last 13 games.
“Our pressure changed the game in the second half,” Holland coach Joe Chatman said. “We did a good job on their guards and we came out tight because of senior night. Abington is very good and well coached. So we had to ramp it up significantly and our guys did.”
Abington junior Kingston Maxwell (25 points) became the second member of the Green Wave this season to score his 1,000th career point, joining Tyler Staiti. Maxwell needed 24 points entering the night to reach the plateau and scored the history-making basket with just over four minutes remaining in the third. The junior guard is the seventh Abington boys player to score 1,000 career points.
It was the Maxwell show early in the game as the guard hit two triples and a pair of layups to give Abington a 23-19 lead after one. Fenton energized the hosts in the second quarter. The Bulldogs’ guard finished at the cup on three different occasions, including twice in transition. Kamron Gordon, meanwhile, asserted his 6-foot-4 self, connecting on five buckets in the paint to push the Bulldogs to a 46-37 advantage at the half.
Maxwell secured his 1,000th point in the third, but otherwise the Bulldogs managed to limit Abington’s star guard to five second-half points after he poured in 20 during the first two quarters.
Fenton, meanwhile, continued to showcase his terrific versatility at the guard spot. The smooth 5-foot-0 junior finished in the open court, splashed a three-pointer, and completed a three-point play, to extend the Bulldogs’ lead up to a dozen with less than five minutes left.
“There are great players out there, but I will take (Jasaad Fenton) over any other guard in Massachusetts,” Chatman said. “With what we lost in guys in Jaeshawn Rogers, to be back in the spot we’re in, at the top of Division 4, that’s a credit to Jasaad.”