Tajmire Flood is Freedom High School's handyman in boys basketball

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

There are basketball players who transcend statistics, outperforming their scoring and rebounding numbers while contradicting the cold and hard figures from their boxscore.

Then there’s Freedom High School’s Tajmire Flood.

Flood, a 6-foot senior whose position is best described as “on the floor,” averages just three points per game for Freedom, which is riding the crest of a 21-4 season and the school’s best campaign in almost 20 years.

He’s not even a starter; he comes off the bench and when he does go in a game, the game changes.

Flood shoots the ball about every other Halley’s Comet and even then, he’s usually no more than two feet away from the basket. He plays virtually every position on the floor on both ends of the court — OK, not all that same time — but at various points of the game, you might see him guard the other team’s center and then watch him bring the ball up against pressure later as the Patriots’ point guard.

In Wednesday night’s 72-42 rout of East Stroudsburg South in the opening round of the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs, Flood’s numbers were 9-9-9.

That sounds like onetime Republican party presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s crazy tax plan. But it was really Flood’s boxscore line: 9 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists in what was no more than 16 minutes of action.

Flood’s backstory is equally interesting. Freedom is his third Lehigh Valley Conference school in the last four years, yet athletics don’t seem to be a factor in any of the moves.

Flood, who plans to continue his athletic and academic career at Stevenson University in Maryland, started his athletic career as Allen’s starting quarterback as a freshman. But according to Freedom coach Joe Stellato, Flood’s family did not like the crowd Tajmire was hanging out with, so he transferred to Bethlehem Catholic where he played football, basketball and track.

But Stellato said Flood never felt comfortable socially at Becahi, even though he was establishing himself as a solid three-sport athlete there.

He transferred again to Freedom this past fall and has apparently found his true home. Flood spent his football season as a kick returner for the Patriots and in basketball, he has become a handyman in the roundball vernacular, giving Stellato whatever he needs on the floor.

“He’s one of the most unselfish kids I’ve ever had,” said Stellato after Freedom’s 72-42 rout of East Stroudsburg South Wednesday in the opening round of the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs. “He roots for the other kids on the bench. He’s always talking, always involved.”

A kid who changes schools that many times is often searching for a program that serves his own narrow agenda. Translation: more minutes, more shots, more points and more opportunities to show college coaches that they’re worthy of a recruiting commitment.

But Flood’s only agenda is one of selflessness; giving the Patriots what they need at the time whether it’s rebounding, defense, ballhandling or moving the ball to the hot shooters. Or just plain energy.

In fact, Flood likes not starting.

“When I sit on the bench, I get to see how the game is going,” Flood says. “Who’s hot, who’s struggling, what we’re doing well as a team and what we’re lacking. When coach (Stellato) puts me in, I try to attack those areas where we’re not doing so well. If something’s broke, I try to go in and fix it.”

Like the old Jimmy Jones song, “Handyman,” Flood needs not a pencil or rule. He fixes broken phases of basketball games and is content to let his teammates take the credit.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bruce-buratti/index.ssf/2012/02/tajmire_flood_is_freedom_high.html