By T. Scott Boatright
Simsboro High School senior Trumarion “Man-Man” Smith lit the fuse Friday night, and it didn’t take long before Tigers freshman Ahmad Smith exploded.
Pouring in 3-pointers like the snow fell down on the city of New Orleans earlier this week, the Tigers roared to a 71-45 win over Castor in District 1-B play inside the SHS gym.
It was Castor that struck first as A. Boyler stole the ball and went the distance for a layup, drawing a foul and adding a made free throw that put his team (also called the Tigers) on top 3-0 only 14 seconds into the opening stanza.
Then “Man-Man” got hot, scoring nine straight points of his own that put Simsboro on top by seven at the 5:49 mark of the first quarter.
Returning to SHS for his senior season after playing at Lincoln Prep last year during Adam Wodach’s first season coaching Simsboro, “Man-Man” finished with 15 points on the night, making numerous assists in addition to his scoring.
“He’s a special player and it’s good to see him getting more comfortable,” Wodach said. “The more comfortable he gets, the better it’s going to be for us.”
Ahmad Smith didn’t score his first points until there were only eight seconds remaining in the opening stanza, giving Simsboro a 16-10 lead heading into the second quarter.
He added a layup and then his first 3-pointer in the first two minutes of the second quarter to push the SHS lead to 28-12.
Another layup followed by his second 3-pointer with 3:04 remaining in the first half put Simsboro up 34-20. He added another layup at the 3:09 mark of the second quarter that helped SHS build a 41-24 halftime advantage.
And Ahmad Smith was only getting started.
He went on to add another four 3-pointers in the third quarter before adding his last one in the fourth to finish with a game high 31 points.
“You don’t tell him anything when you see a kid get on fire like that, you just watch it happen,” Wodach said. “I think you’re allowed to take one or two bad shots when you see that happening.
“That’s what makes this team special. Jakaleb (Modest) had 30 the past couple of games and tonight it was Ahmad. It’s hard to play against a team that has so many guys that can score, and that’s a credit to the work our guys have been putting in at the gym.”
Simsboro finished with nine 3-pointers on the night, with Justin Prudhomme, Modest and Justin Terrell adding one each.
“The whole gameplan was to make them play our game and I think we did that tonight,” Wodach said. “It’s going to be real tough to go to their place and play again because they’re good. I don’t think tonight’s score reflects how good of a team they are.
“Castor was No. 8 in the power ranking heading in and I hope that we jump them after tonight. But they’re better than tonight’s score reflects and it’s going to be tough to beat them at their place. But when this team plays hard, we’re hard to beat.”
Wodach said it was work put in before the game that helped his team play so well against Castor.
“I wish I could say it was about me, but it’s about the individual work our guys are putting in,” Wodach said. “We’re really trying to develop a mindset of taking it seriously. We have guys here an hour before they’re supposed to be here, watching film and working. We have guys who have as many hours watching film as I do.”
Wodach even credited team managers for chipping in to help his team win.
“I think that as a team we’re getting better at executing our scouting,” Wodach said. “We’re executing our scouting to a ‘T’ tonight. I have to give a shoutout to our managers. They were amazing watching film and helping me and working out our play calls, so credit to them. I just thought we played hard — relentless.
“You hear me talk a lot about playing 32 minutes, and we continue to find ways to play 32 minutes. And I’m proud.”
Next up for Simsboro, now 12-8 overall and 3-0 in district play, will be a 1-B home game against Quitman next Friday.
