By T. Scott Boatright
SIMSBORO — It took the Simsboro Tigers the opening quarter to really get going at home Tuesday night against Choudrant.
But a 6-0 spark to open the second stanza ignited the Tigers the rest of the way as they raced to a 78-58 win over the Aggies inside the new SHS gym.
Choudrant opened scoring on a Tucker Batterton short jumper at the 7:25 mark of the first quarter and moved on top 6-5 on a 23 field goal with 3:54 left in the opening stanza.
But that would be the last lead for the Aggies as the Tigers moved out in front 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.
“I thought we did a great job initially of handling the pressure and I thought our guards did a really good job of putting us in a position to score,” Smith said. “But the game really does come down to who puts the ball in the basket and we struggled to convert on some of our chances and they did a great job of turning some of those defensive rebounds into 3s in transition.
“Credit to (Simsboro) for putting the ball in the basket. That’s something we have to improve on moving forward.”
But the Tigers heated up in the second quarter, building a 31-15 lead with 3:29 remaining in the first half.
Choudrant closed out the half with a 6-2 run, with Ben Rinehart’s running jumper with five seconds on the clock cutting the Tigers’ advantage to 36-25 at intermission.
“They’ve got great guards — really smart and unselfish,” Smith said about Simsboro. “Not only are they great individual players but they always seem to make the right team plays. That’s what makes playing a team like (Simsboro) really challenging.”
“So credit to Coach (Woodach) and his guys for really capitalizing on their opportunities. If you give a great team like them any kind of opportunity, and they’re unselfish like that, they make you pay.”
Simsboro built as much as a 22-point lead at 51-29 on a Ahmad Smith jumper with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
But Choudrant scored the final five points of the stanza on Carson Carico free throw, a Rinehart jumper and a Clarence Merryweather layup to cut Simsboro’s advantage to 56-41 heading into the final stanza.
A Rinehart layup with 5:07 remaining cut Simsboro’s lead to 15 points at 63-48, but that’s as close as the Aggies would get the rest of the way.
“I thought for the first time this season we played a full 32 minutes together,” said SHS coach Adam Wodach. “I would have liked to make a few more shots earlier, but credit to (Choudrant) for making some huge shots. We couldn’t pull away.
“But I thought that we played with a tremendous amount of intensity and effort. When we have over 20 assists, we’re really hard to beat and I think we may have had that out there tonight.”
Wodach even liked it when a ref had to tell his bench to sit down.
“When that happens, it’s a good thing. They were all actively into the game. For 32 minutes we didn’t stop. And that’s a good thing.”
Jakaleb Modest led Simsboro with 27 points while Ahmad Smith added 19, Jalen Outley chipped in with eight and Justin Terrell totaled eight for the Tigers, who moved to 9-9 with the win.
“Both Jakaleb and Ahmad are great scorers and I thought (Simsboro’s Trumarion Smith) did a great job around the rim,” Smith said. “He wasn’t necessarily hitting his jumpers, but you could tell his all-around impact was big. And when Jakaleb and Ahmad get hot like that, they can beat anybody, for sure.”
Simsboro opens District 1-B play today with a home contest against Weston.
“I would say we’ve played one of the tougher schedules in Louisiana,” Wodach said. “We played Simsboro, we played Neville, we played Zwolle. We played Minden, which has only one loss that came against Ruston. And that was a close game.
“So we’ve played a brutal schedule and I think we’re battle-tested finally starting to become humble a little bit. I would have liked to have not given up layups as much, but what makes me excited is how coachable this team has become. We can be up by 20 and they expect to continue to be coached. They don’t think the coaches are trying to nit-pick. They know we’re trying to win a state title. You can’t take plays off and it starts with building habits. And we’re finally getting to the point where we’re embracing that way of thinking.”
The Aggies, meanwhile, stand 5-18 with their next game set for Jan. 14 at Calvary Baptist.
“We talked postgame that we have the opportunity to have four great practices and move forward with the schedule, and with what I saw with our leadership, communication and behind the scenes stuff that really showed up tonight, now we can get our focus on reducing turnovers and scoring the ball moving into the district season,” Smith said.
