He nailed two in the second quarter, three in the third and two more in the fourth before taking a seat with 2 minutes, 57 seconds remaining.
It was outrageous enough that Cole hit seven mad-bombs in a row. Now brace yourself for this: Every one was a perfect swish. He made long-range sniping look as easy as dropping coins into a vending machine.
"When I pass the ball to James," star junior guard Rysheed Jordan said, "I just drop back and get ready to play defense. You know it's going in."
In all, Cole went 14-for-20 from the floor (one vicious dunk) and 1-for-1 at the line. He tallied seven of Vaux' first 15 points - Frankford was managing only four - and exploded for eight more in the early moments of the third quarter, posting two treys to sandwich the wolf-down.
Afterward, Cole mostly sounded like someone who'd just awakened from a 3-hour nap.
Where's the excitement? The amazement?
"I'm used to this," he said with a shrug. "And I really work at shooting, so it doesn't surprise me to make them like that. I know what I'm capable of doing."
OK, but he hit seven threes in a row!
"Like I said, I'm confident," he noted with a smile.
Cole, who lives in Olney, offered that he spends many, many hours at the Abington YMCA. In fact, he claims he goes there every day (or night).
His shooting partner is his brother, Brandon, who attends Math, Civics and Sciences Charter, and the taskmaster for lengthy drills is his father, also James.
"We shoot 500 jumpers apiece, and we have to make 300," Cole said. "They have two gyms at that Y. The downstairs one is where everybody plays games. We use the upstairs one.
"Anytime we miss five shots in a row, we have do 16s [run back and forth across the court 16 times]. You get tired, sure, and you hate all that running, but it prepares you for the games. If you're dragging a little, you'll still have your form."
