Senior Moment: Jason Holder

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris State University men’s basketball senior Jason Holder is shown here being introduced with his family on Senior Day (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – Playing an inspired brand of college basketball, particularly so in the last few games, Jason Holder is playing like a guy not ready to have his Ferris State University college basketball career end any time soon.

The 6-foot-4 Holder, a native of Saginaw who played his final three seasons of college basketball for Ferris after transferring in from Cleveland State University, has been a beast on the backboards and in general at the defensive end. Garnering 17 minutes of action per contest, Holder is averaging 5.3 points and three rebounds per game through 25 contests (17 of which he has started) this winter.

“It feels good to be doing whatever I can to help our team,” Holder said of his inspired play of late that included 16 points and five rebounds on Saturday against Lake Superior State and nine points with 10 rebounds against Saginaw Valley on Friday. “I don’t know how many games I have left so I want to make the most of them.”

Holder, during the last game plus, has stepped his game up after the injury suffered by leading scorer Justin Keenan. The injury knocked Keenan out for most of the second half of Ferris’ 80-69 win over Saginaw Valley and all of the Bulldogs’ 76-69 loss to Lake Superior, the second-best team in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.

“We’ve been in these kinds of situations in the past where we’ve had a key player out and we’ve responded well,” said Holder, who has been a major part of that response with his relentless hustle on the backboards and up and down the court. “Our mentality is we are a good team and we have guys who can step up and make big plays for us and that is what happened (against SVSU).”

This week, Ferris is on the road for its final two regular-season games as it travels to Midland to face Northwood on Thursday and then to Detroit to challenge Wayne State on Saturday.

“We’re trying to take it one game at a time and not let ourselves get caught looking too far ahead,” Holder said. “These are big games coming up and we’re just going to be focusing on the next one before looking ahead (to Saturday or the playoffs).”

In Senior Moments, Sandy Gholston interviewed each of the six men’s and women’s basketball seniors from Ferris State University to find out what some of their thoughts were entering the final regular-season college basketball weekend of their careers. The student-athletes interviewed were Mark Gildersleeve and Jason Holder of the men’s basketball team and Caitlin Hutchison, Jenna Guay, Teghan Thelen and Ashley Fleming of the women’s basketball team.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com