Brake reaping fruits of labor
Sometimes it is hard to gauge the value of an athlete when they are going about their business on the court, on the field, or in the batter’s box. But, the truly special ones just stand out. their sheer talent and brilliance shine brightly through the maze of players and the glare of the bright lights.
In the 2014-15 boys basketball season, no player meant more to his team and played at such a high level game in and game out than Octorara’s Tarojae Brake. The senior was magnificent the entire season as he displayed both talent and grit on the basketball floor.
He averaged 24.2 points per game and eight assists a contest and led the Braves to a Ches-Mont League AmericanDivision title, a District 1 Class AAA championship and a first-round appearance in the PIAA Class AAA tournament.
It is for his talent, teamwork, dedication to the game and overall value to a district championship team that Brake is the Daily Local News Boys Basketball Player All-Area of The Year.
“We just came together and we have been playing together since about the fifth grade,’ Brake said of his Octorara teammates. “We come out and we work hard every day in practice and we all know where the other guy is going to be on the court. We wanted to win a state title but we came up short against (Archbishop) Carroll, but we accomplished a a lot of good things this season.’
To watch Brake play, one has to wonder where he gets those natural instincts to see other players open on the floor and one can only imagine how many practice shots he takes to be so deadly during games from the field.
“Tarojae is a gym rat and a kid that loves to play basketball,’ Octorara coach Gene Lambert said. “He just works so hard. Before games, he gets there early before the junior varsity games and takes shot after shot to get better. He is a very dedicated kid and he was our leader this season no question about it.’
Brake went over the 1,000-point mark early in the campaign and leaves Octorara with over 1,300 points. He is getting big-time interest from schools like Albright, Alvernia, Penn State-Harrisburg and others.
Wherever Brake decides to attend college, that school will be getting someone who has dedicated his life to basketball and strives every day to get better and better at his craft.
