City of Basketball Love

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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Players were pounding their chests, the bench was up cheering, and the fans--including the school’s famous band--were all on their feet after Jamal Holloway’s fourth-quarter slam put an exclamation point on Camden’s resounding victory over Winslow.

To put it plainly, everyone pulling for “The High” was in a frenzy.

That is, of course, everyone except Holloway himself.

Even in the midst of a raucous home crowd and the Panthers’ breakneck, up-and-down style, the senior forward remained cool, calm, and collected en route to posting 26 points and 10 rebounds in a 83-59 Camden win.

“As soon as the lights come on, I just try to play hard and focus on the game at hand,” who admitting to being a bit goofy away from the court. “That’s just my demeanor. I always had that same attitude when I was younger and I still have it now. You can’t ever get too excited or too sad, you just keep a straight face all the time.”

Such performances have become standard operating procedure for Holloway, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark last season. As a junior, he came within a few rebounds of averaging a double-double, and he entered the matchup with Winslow scoring 21 points per game for his senior campaign.

According to Camden head coach John Valore, the Syracuse football commit’s calm nature provides a steadying force for the otherwise uptempo Panthers.

“What you see is what Jamal is off the court: he’s quiet, but he gets the job done,” Valore said. “That’s his character. That’s the way he is. He always looks calm. He might be goofy with his friends, but he doesn’t show it with us.”

With goals of walking on to the Orange basketball team in addition to playing football at Syracuse, Holloway has made sure to apply his focus to the hardwood as much as he can.

As a senior, he’s continued to develop his game even after already being an All-South Jersey performer. Holloway still has the same affinity for hitting the boards, but has shifted his game more to the perimeter offensively, slashing for inside buckets and even knocking down some deep jumpers instead of strictly scrapping for points as he had in the past.

Dedicating himself to both football and basketball like he has, Holloway is no doubt a busy man, even as just a high school senior.

“I’m just going out there and playing, that’s all,” he said. “I just spend time every day just trying to work on my game, for football and basketball. I just try to get my time management together and make myself better at both sports.”

While Holloway was the catalyst, he had plenty of help in the Panthers’ dominant win over the defending South Jersey Group 3 champions.

Joining him in double figures were senior guard Dustin Singleton (16 points), junior guard John Evans (14) and sophomore guard Cory Greer (13).

Senior swingman Brad Hawkins, a Michigan football commit and All-South Jersey performer on the hardwood, was limited to just six points off the bench after returning last night from the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in California.

Mike Cubbage led the way for Winslow with 22 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Holloway, Hawkins, and sophomore forward Myles Thompson are the only returning rotation players from last year’s South Jersey Group 3 champion Panthers. However, with the emergence of players like Singleton, Evans, and some other young performers, along with the addition of Greer from Middle Township (N.J.), Valore is able to shy away from his typically short rotations.

“We’re very fortunate that we have 10 people that can play and come with energy,” said Valore, who is in his third season at Camden after 35 years at Cherry Hill East. “If we find that for some reason we lack a little bit of conditioning for four or five minutes, we’re comfortable that we can put anyone it and it isn’t an issue and they’ll give us energy, which we need.”

Valore’s ability to constantly keep everyone fresh with his added depth makes the Panthers’ full-court pressure defense that much more lethal.

Winslow struggled all game against the press, as Camden forced countless turnovers which they swiftly converted into easy buckets on the other end. Using their defense to spark their offense, the Panthers ripped off separate runs of 13-0, 8-0, and 11-0, with the first spurt featuring nine points in 39 seconds after three consecutive steals and layups.

“The offense comes from our defense, and the defense has been very good,” Valore said. “So when you have the athletes that we have, we can do that, and we can maintain a press throughout the game. If I didn’t have these athletes, then I would be in a different defense.”

Luckily for Valore and The High’s many rabid supporters, Camden does have those athletes, and they looked utterly dominant at times against a team considered to be one of the best in South Jersey.

Having won three consecutive sectional titles, only to fall short in the state championship game each of the last two years, the Panthers already have their sights set on having the Group 2 playoffs run through Clarence Turner Gymnasium.

“The only thing we haven’t finished the last two years is the state title game. We would love to get back there again,” Valore said. “Our first goal is to win as many games as we can to get home court advantage in the playoffs. That’s the goal, and then we’ll take it from there.”