By T. Scott Boatright
Athletes around the world often talk about “The Zone,” a psychological plane where an athlete’s mind goes during high-pressure situations
On Thursday night, Simsboro sophomore Ahmad Smith found himself smack dab in the middle of that “Zone.”
Smith turned in a career performance in a 76-65 win over Doyline, pouring in 45 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a performance that left even his head coach stunned.
Doyline led 14-9 at the end of the opening stanza before Smith nailed a pair of 3-pointers and started getting hot. By halftime he had scored 16 points to help Simsboro take a 31-29 lead at halftime.
“He came to me in the second quarter,” said SHS coach Adam Wodach about Smith. “We’re having foul trouble. And he just looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got us.’ And I think that’s a credit to his confidence, his preparation, and also his teammates’ confidence. Wow, 45 (points), that’s really something. That’s a career high for him. I don’t know if I’ve had a player in 10 years of coaching that has scored 45. I’d like to see the shooting percentage, because I think that was even more impressive.
“Credit to the other guys, too. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you;re not touching (the ball) as much, but we preach in practice that when somebody hits one, you’ve got to go right back to him. You’ve got to keep feeding the hot hand. So, credit to our team for continuing to feed him, but also continuing to crash the boards, because a lot of times when somebody is putting on a show like that, you end up just standing back and watching.”
Smith added 13 points in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers, to help the Tigers take a 55-43 lead into the final quarter of play.
“It just happened,” Smith said of his night. “I don’t even know how to explain it. Usually I don’t shoot many 3s. But they were trying to stop me from driving to the basket and leaving me open, so I just shot. After I hit those first two in the third quarter, I just started feeling it.”
Smith added another trio of treys and totaled 16 points in the final stanza to close out his career night.
Amaren Woodard added 12 points, including three 3-pointers of his own for the Tigers while Jayden Jenkins chipped in with nine more points, including a pair of treys, to help give Simsboro a total of 14 shots made from behind the arc on the night.
“We were just focusing on taking it seriously,” Jenkins said. “We just kept playing hard and playing together. We wanted that win so we went out and got it.”
While Wodach admitted it wasn’t necessarily a pretty game for his Tigers, he also said the win was a beautiful thing to watch.
“(It was our) last home game, there was a lot of emotion and I think their routine was off,” Wodach said. “Guys are staying after school longer. So they’re routine felt off. The air felt off. So I’m really proud of this team for finding a way to push through it. That wasn’t the prettiest win we’ve had, but I don’t think anything about our season has been pretty. And I think we’re starting to embrace that in a good way.
“It’s become our rallying cry. It’s not about how we get it done but just that we do get it done.”
Simsboro, which stands at 12-15, will next play non-district games at home against Saline tonight before closing out regular-season action at West Ouachita on Feb. 20.
