Simsboro advances to ‘Marsh Madness’

Another season, another Simsboro basketball net cut down.

The top-seeded Tigers are headed back to Lake Charles for the fifth straight year, after mowing down the ninth-seeded Fairview Panthers 86-54 in the quarterfinals.

Unlike last round’s iffy start for the Tigers, this game was simply utter domination from start to finish, never allowing the Panthers to take a lead.

The Tigers were once again carried by their senior duo of guards Jakemin Abney and Kalep Crane.

Abney racked up 23 points on 10-for-19 shooting while Crane added 20 on a 9-for-15 clip.

They likely would have scored more had they not been subbed out of the game for good with 1:50 remaining in the third quarter, with the game well in hand.

Sophomore guard Jordan Crawford was Simsboro’s next leading scorer, with 10 points, and senior forward Jamarian Cato poured in nine.

“What we focused on the last few days of practice was getting off to a better start,” Simsboro head coach Josh Brown said.

“The deeper you get in the playoffs, the better the teams are and you don’t have that margin for error. We knew Fairview was really wellcoached and shot it very well, so we didn’t want to give them a chance to stay in the game.”

Despite beating Florien by more than 40 points in the regionals Monday, Brown wasn’t thrilled with his team’s ball security, citing their 26 total turnovers in that contest.

His corresponding message at their next practice must have resonated with the players, because they reduced that number to a mere six turnovers against Fairview.

“We watched a lot of film and our guys did a great job preparing,” Brown said. “And that’s what we focused on, taking care of the basketball, not turning it over and not giving them easy baskets off our turnovers. You’ve got to give Fairview credit, they made a lot of tough shots to hang around, but (the) pace favored us, and that’s how we want to play.”

This marks Simsboro’s fifth straight LHSAA Top 28 Boys Basketball Tournament appearance, but the Tigers’ sights are set much higher than only making another appearance.

“We talk about how blessed we are all the time,” Brown said. “A lot of players and a lot of coaches go their entire careers and they don’t go to one (Top 28), while we’re going to our fifth straight.

But they also understand that wasn’t our goal this year. Our goal was to win our third consecutive state championship.”

Next week, Simsboro will match up in the semifinals against the winner of Friday night’s quarterfinals duel between fifth-seeded Pitkin and fourthseeded Zwolle.

Brown said he’s more concerned about how they will play than who the opponent is, but is also confident in his team’s experience in big games.

“That’s one of the advantages I believe we have, now that we have experience,” he said. “Most of the guys on our roster have been to several Top 28s.

“It’s different when you go down there for the first time, with all the logistics of staying in hotels and practicing in different gyms, but our guys are used to that. We celebrated a little bit tonight and had a little fun, but we’re going to lock in and go to work, and try to finish the job.”