In the closing seconds of Morgan State's upset victory over Maryland this season, everyone at Comcast Center - including both coaches - knew Reggie Holmes was going to have the basketball in his hands. Maryland fans feared the prospect of it happening, and Greivis Vasquez, defending Holmes, pounded the floor to ready himself.
And yet even with that burden of great expectations, Holmes smoothly pump-faked after catching a pass outside the three-point line, grinned as Vasquez flew by him, then made his fifth three-pointer to give Morgan State its biggest win in school history. Holmes had truly arrived on the big stage. And in some respects, so had Morgan State.
"Sometimes, when I shoot, I can feel when certain shots are just good," says Holmes, who is averaging 16.2 points for the 19-11 Bears, who play their final regular-season game tonight against rival Coppin State. "Other times, you get that feeling when it comes off your hand, you don't think it's going in, and you're surprised. But that shot against Maryland? I really felt that shot. Once I got him off his feet and had a clear look? I thought: 'Yup.' "
As Holmes, who scored 25 against the Terps, backpedaled up the court, listening to the silence of Maryland's home crowd, he stuck his tongue out and waggled it in glee.
Although third-year Bears coach Todd Bozeman is quick to stress that a team effort is responsible for Morgan's rebirth - which includes a second consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title this year after posting 18 losing seasons in a row - he acknowledges that as Holmes goes this year, so go the Bears. In losses this season, Holmes is averaging 11.4 points. In victories, he's averaging 19.0.
"He's definitely made an impact on our program," Bozeman says. "I always thought he could potentially be the leading scorer in the history of the school. His first two years, everything he did was kind of icing on the cake. But now that he's a junior, a lot more has been expected of him. His first two years, he had only two options: shoot the three or go to the hole. We've worked real hard to get him to develop a midrange game."
Still, the 6-foot-4 shooting guard's ability to get open and fire from deep has been such an effective weapon he is already the school's all-time leader in three-pointers made. It's not a distinction Holmes envisioned when he was playing at Southern High and then St. Frances, where he was a teammate of Terps freshman Sean Mosley's.
