By T. Scott Boatright
QUITMAN — Momentum inside the Quitman High School gym danced back and forth Thursday as erratically as the temperatures have in recent weeks throughout north Louisiana as the Simsboro Tigers faced off against the Wolverines with the District 1-B title at stake.
Call the Tigers king as they earned that crown with a late surge in the final nine minutes to remain undefeated in district play with a 71-56 win over the Wolverines.
But don’t be deceived. Simsboro’s win didn’t come nearly as easily as the final score might seemingly indicate.
“To go undefeated in a district that has two teams in the Top 10 and has another team with more than 20 wins (Doyline) is a tribute to the work our guys have put in,” said Tigers coach Adam Wodach. “I’m really proud of them.
“We’re celebrating, but I think we all know our job’s not done. We still have a long way to get where we want to go.”
Simsboro started strong, with Jakaleb Modest hitting a 3-pointer to open scoring 38 seconds into the contest.
That would be only a slight foreshadowing of more to come.
The Tigers roared out to a 17-9 advantage by the end of the opening stanza, but the second quarter would belong to the Wolverines.
Slowly Quitman chipped away at Simsboro’s lead, tying the game at 24-24 with under two minutes remaining before halftime.
And the Wolverines grabbed their first lead of the game with 27 seconds left in the half on a Tayden Thomas 3-pointer that sent Quitman into the locker room on top 29-27 at intermission.
Wodach said there wasn’t much he told his team during that halftime break.
“Honestly, I didn’t tell them anything,” Wodach said. “They’re so locked in right now, for the first time in my career I don’t have to come in with a fiery speech. They knew what they had to do.”
Momentum danced back and forth between the teams for the first seven minutes of the third quarter, with neither team building more than a three-point lead that came on another Thomas 3-pointer that put Quitman up 36-33 with 4:25 remaining in the quarter.
But then Modest jumped on “Old Man Mo’s” shoulders in the final 17.5 seconds of the third stanza, nailing a pair of 3-pointers that gave the Tigers a 49-46 lead heading in the fourth quarter.
“When we went in at halftime and they had gone up on us, I knew I just had to come on and do what I had to do,” Modest said. “We just had to play our game and we settled down and did that.
“Winning district is really good. We just have to continue getting better every day. We’ve got two more games and then the playoffs. We’re not close to done yet.”
Simsboro’s Jalen Outley stopped and popped from short range in the paint with 4:09 left on the clock to ignite a 10-1 run for the Tigers that didn’t end until Quitman’s Larsen Thomas hit a mid-range jumper and added a free throw on throw on the play that cut the SHS led 69-54 with 1:04 remaining.
But the Tigers’ celebration had already started by then.
Wodach admitted to having his team slow things down after building the lead midway through the final stanza, instead focusing on stopping Quitman from making a late run of its own.
“Earlier that was a big issue — we shot too quick,” Wodach said. “Earlier in the season we found ourselves blowing big leads against Gibbs and Negreet. We’ve worked hard on moving the ball around when we need to. Our point guard (Trumarion Smith) is a tremendous flood general.
“In the beginning of the season we were finding ways to lose games, and now we’re finding ways to win games, and it’s a credit to them and their willingness to be coached.”
Modest led the Tigers with 21 points while Trumarion Smith added 16, Ahamd Smith chipped in with 11 and Outley totaled 10.
“Jakaleb had some big moments for us tonight, but we had a bunch of guys stepping up when we needed them,” Wodach said. “That’s all a tribute to the work they put in.”
The Tigers (18-8) will close out the regular season with a road game at Eunice on Tuesday and a home game against West Ouachita on Feb. 21.
