By T. Scott Boatright
Simsboro’s boys basketball team continued its recent trend of turning slow starts into strong finishes Friday night in a District 2-B home showdown against Choudrant.
Despite falling to a five-point deficit in the game’s opening four minutes and trailing at the end of the opening stanza, the Tigers used a late surge to pull away for a 67-52 win over the Aggies before an overflow and boisterous crowd at the SHS Gym.
Choudrant entered the game undefeated in district play, but the Tigers — winners of three of their last four contests — are now tied with the Aggies atop the 2-B race with both standing at 3-1.
“It’s a good win, but just like the way this season has gone, it was tough to get,” said first-year SHS coach Randy Carlisle, whose Tigers moved to 10-17 overall with the win. “We’re getting better, thank goodness, after a tough start to the season. It’s been a long run, and we’ve still got a long way to go. But we’re getting better, and that’s a good thing to see.”
The Aggies led Simsboro 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers picked up their pace in the second quarter to tie things up 29-29 at intermission.
Simsboro outscored the Aggies 7-3 over the first four minutes of the third quarter to build a 36-32 lead, but Choudrant didn’t panic, pulling within a point at 36-35 on Lawson Stevens’ hook shot with 3:21 left in the period.
But the Tigers then used a 7-1 run over the last 3:04 of the stanza to build a 43-36 lead moving into the final eight minutes of play.
Three straight baskets by the Tigers — a layup by Jalen Outley, a jumper by Kalep Wright and a layup by Trumarion Smith — pushed the Simsboro advantage to 49-36 before the Aggies got their first basket of the quarter on a 3-point bucket by Parker Batterton, cutting the SHS lead to 10 points with 6:32 left on the clock.
But playing from behind the Aggies were forced to foul to try to pull back in it and slow the clock. However, Simsboro connected on 14-of-21 of its free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to keep the Aggies from getting any closer than nine points that coming on Mike Jones’ putbuck that cut the deficit to 53-44 with 5:01 remaining.
“It was a great game and the atmosphere was incredible,” said Choudrant coach Ryan Smith. “We got off to a good start, but it felt like Simsboro was motivated and they played hard. Coach Carlisle had those guys ready.
“They were getting loose balls and we struggled getting some defensive rebounds. Give credit to those guys for the effort they put in to get the win.”
Wright led all scorers with 26 points, with 18 of those coming in the second half, while Earnest Chatman added 16 for the Tigers.
“Earnest only became eligible a few games ago and he’s still trying to get used to playing in our system and doing things the way we do things,” Carlisle said. “But he did a job out there. The thing is, with focus and getting more and more in tune with this team, he really can still get quite a bit better.”
Smith added 11 points for the Tigers, who also received nine from Outley.
Batteron led Choudrant with 24 points while Eli Callender added 11 and Jones chipped in with nine points.
“We were right there, it just got away,” Smith said. “I was excited about the way we played for the most part. I know the group we have will bounce back and be ready to go for our next game. Now we just focus our attention on Downsville and Forest and see what happens.
“I know if we get a chance to play Simsboro again, our guys will be really excited about that opportunity.”
Choudrant, 24-11 overall, will next play host to Downsville (0-25) on Tuesday while Simsboro will play at Forest (9-10, 1-2) the same day.
