O-R Athlete of the Week: C.J. Cole
Name: C.J. Cole
School: McGuffey
Sport: Basketball
Class: Junior
Cole’s week: Cole put his name in the history books at McGuffey with his performance in a 70-59 overtime win against Frazier. He scored 47 points, including 12 of the Highlanders’ 17 points in overtime, to set a career high and tie a school record for points in a game. Cole also secured 16 rebounds in the victory.
It was the first time a player from McGuffey scored that many points in a single game since Scott Ramsey in 1996.
“I didn’t know at the time I had that many points,” Cole said. “We were down early, so when we started making a comeback, everybody was getting involved. It’s really an honor. I had certain goals coming into this season and one of those was beating that record. I guess tying it was the first step.”
Cole was scoring so often the scorekeepers couldn’t keep track. The person keeping the Frazier scorebook had Cole finishing the game with 49 points. McGuffey’s scorekeeper had 46 points. It wasn’t until Highlanders’ coach Mike Fatigante watched the game on film twice that night, keeping track of every point scored, the exact scoring total for Cole was known.
“If you could have a quiet 47, he did,” Fatigante said. “I had no idea he was close to that many points until the guy keeping our book asked me what the school record was.”
In McGuffey’s other game, a 62-53 victory over Southmoreland, Cole scored 23 points and collected 20 rebounds. It was his sixth double-double in seven games this season.
The back-to-back wins gave the Highlanders three consecutive victories, all against Class 3A Section 4 competition. McGuffey (3-0, 5-2) is leading Washington by a half game for first place in the section.
Early riser: The early morning struggles most teenagers face of waking up for school doesn’t phase Cole. In fact, he probably makes it to school before many of his classmates even wake up for the day.
Every school day, Cole wakes up at 5:30 a.m., arrives at school at 6:30 a.m., and spends an hour in the gym or the weight room before school begins at 8 a.m.
He has had that routine for the last three years.
“It was really hard when I was younger, but I knew it would all be worthwhile,” Cole said. “When I was younger, I played on AAU teams and things didn’t go the way I wanted. I was sick of being picked last and wanted to make a difference. Hard work beats talent when talent hardly works.”
Fatigante said it isn’t simply about Cole spending the time before school, something that has caught on with some of his teammates who now join him in the morning. Cole uses time throughout the school day and is the first to practice and last to leave.
The hard work has added up to a fast start to his junior season, averaging 28 points and 13 rebounds per game.
“He doesn’t have elite quickness or jumping ability, but he has a work ethic that is unmatched to anyone that I have ever coached,” Fatigante said. “It is unbelievable the time he puts into the gym. When you have a leader who is your best player and hardest worker, that’s a really special player. Those players don’t come around all the time.”