Cathedral's Jake Davis turns taking charges into an art. The key? 'I think my hair helps.'
Jake Davis did not set out at the start of his high school basketball career with the idea he would be known as “the guy who takes charges.”
Does anybody?
The 6-6, 220-pound Davis, now a junior at Cathedral, rarely took a charge in middle school. But as a freshman, he needed to find a way to get on the floor consistently. In the City tournament championship, in an epic 94-91 double-overtime loss to Crispus Attucks, Davis took four charges and helped foul out Attucks star Sincere McMahon.
He was on his way.
“Ever since then, I found that was a way for me to get on the floor,” Davis said. “... and now it’s just something that I do.”
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Davis’ defense — and offense — sometimes goes under-the-radar on an explosive eighth-ranked Cathedral team (24-6) that will play Bloomington North (24-3) in the Class 4A semistate on Saturday afternoon at the Hatchet House in Washington. All five starters average in double figures, including Davis at 10.3 points per game. He leads the team in 3-pointers made with 68 and shoots 47% from the arc.
“He’s definitely a selfless player,” said senior guard Tayshawn Comer, who averages a team-high 16.6 points and 6.3 assists. “Most of the time, I tell him to shoot more. When he shoots, I think it’s going in every time. But he’s also not going to take bad shots.”
The 3-pointers are great. But that is probably No. 3 on the list of Davis’ defining characteristics on the basketball court. If taking charges is not No. 1, then it is his long, curly blonde hair. The hair and his proficiency in taking a charge sometimes works hand in hand.
“I think my hair helps,” Davis said. “Because when you take a charge, you fall back and (the referee) sees the hair and it’s like, ‘Yep, charge.’ You always have to make a little noise, too.”
But there is a talent to taking charges that goes beyond selling the call. Davis picks up most of his charges as the secondary defender when a dribbler gets by one of his teammates.
“I never get a charge, really, when I’m on the ball one-on-one,” he said. “It’s mostly help side. I think I play pretty good help-side defense for the most part. When I see (a teammate) get beat, I try get there first. Then I just let that dude run into me.”
Sounds easy, right? Davis took 24 charges as a freshman, another 30 as a sophomore and has taken 22 so far this season. It has become more difficult, Cathedral coach Jason Delaney said, as opposing teams are now aware of Davis’ unique ability.
“The opportunities go down and the referees haven’t given him as many as in the past,” Delaney said. “But you have to game-plan for him, just like you do a shot-blocker. He’s still altering shots because he’s willing to take charges. He has an extremely high basketball IQ, and he knows where to be and when to be there.”
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Records on charges taken can be difficult to track. Leigh Evans of HickoryHusker.com has compiled extensive records on multiple categories, boys and girls, for more than two decades. Evans lists Tri-Central’s Mason Pickens, who played from 2018-21, as the career leader with 81. Davis, with 76 to his credit, is on pace to shatter that mark with another season to play.
According to statistics compiled on MaxPreps, Davis is tied for third in the state this season behind Centerville’s Jacob Fordonski (29), Pendleton Heights’ Luke Candiano (28) and tied with Northeastern’s Payton Lumpkin (22).
“He’s the ultimate teammate,” Delaney said of Davis. “No matter if he’s having a good game or a bad game, he’s just steady. That’s his demeanor. You can never tell if he’s rattled or if he’s too high. He just stays that even keel and I think that goes to his leadership. He’s a vocal leader and he leads by example.”
Davis said one of the key to his success in taking charges is not to flop. He might attempt to take a charge where he is unlikely to get the call, but rarely does he try to fool the referee. He believes that helps with his credibility.
“Sometimes you feel the dude brush past you and it’s like, ‘Should I fall down or not?’” he said. “... But if I don’t really get hit or think I can genuinely get a call, I won’t fall.”
Taking a charge can flip the momentum of a game as much as a 3-pointer or a dunk. Sliding across the floor on your backside just doesn’t make for as exciting of a highlight reel. But as Davis knows, the willingness to do it can get you on the court.
“I see myself as a team guy,” Davis said. “If things come to me, I’ll always be the dude to do it. Taking charges, I feel like it impacts the game. It’s like taking a shot. If it’s a good shot, I’m going to take it.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at 317-444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Cathedral 's Jake Davis takes charges at record pace
