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O-R Athlete of the Week: Colin Cote, Peters Township

3 min read
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Name: Colin Cote

School: Peters Township

Sport: Basketball

Class: Junior

Cote’s week: In Peters Township’s final two games of the week, wins over Connellsville and North Catholic, Cote caught fire from deep to lead the Indians in scoring in both games. Cote made eight three-pointers and scored 27 of his game-high 30 points in the first half in a 76-52 rout of Connellsville. The next day, he matched the eight threes to score 28 points to upend North Catholic, 62-55.

“My teammates were finding me on both nights and I was just knocking them down,” Cote said. “Once I see the ball go in, it feels good and I can start getting on a roll.”

The consistency – Cote went 16-for-25 from three-point range in those games on back-to-back nights – was what impressed Peters Township coach Gary Goga.

“I’ve never had a player do something like that,” Goga said. “That’s as impressive of a shooting performance as you are going to see. The thing I liked about it was he didn’t take many bad shots. He might have had one or two, but when you are feeling it like that, I can live with it.”

Battling through adversity: One of the few players to remain healthy throughout a difficult five-win season last year, Cote was determined the team would improve this season.

“(Last year) was horrible. You never want to deal with that. It was brutal,” Cote said. “I just stayed in the gym and, as a team, we came together and said we wouldn’t allow a season like that again. We are playing with a way better attitude every single night.”

Goga knew Cote, who devotes his time to keeping his honor-student status and basketball, would be a main reason why Peters Township would bounce back. The Indians enter the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs as the ninth seed and will begin the postseason with a first-round game against No. 8 Penn-Trafford Tuesday at Mt. Lebanon (8 p.m.).

“I talked to him all the time during the offseason and he would always say that we are doing all we can to be good,” Goga remembered. “Whenever adversity hits, he isn’t going to shy away from it. Even after the past couple of games (before the big scoring nights), he was disappointed in himself.”

Cote is averaging 19 points to lead Peters Township this season.

“We came out strong at the beginning of the year, then we had a couple losses,” Cote said. “There were games where we got into our heads, got out of control and weren’t taking care of the ball. We are working on end-of-game situations. We have bounced back and are playing our best basketball.”

Compiled by Luke Campbell

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