Simsboro eliminated by No. 1 Zwolle 88-64 in quarterfinal round

The recent championship experience and veteran roster of No. 1 Zwolle proved too much for No. 9 Simsboro, as the Tigers fell 88-64 in Friday’s Division V Non-select quarterfinal game.

After sticking with Zwolle for the first eight minutes to trail just 22-18 after the first quarter, Simsboro allowed a 12-0 run in the second quarter that made the rest of the contest a game of catch up — one that Zwolle never relinquished control of. The defending state champions were out in front 40-29 at halftime and 65-42 by the end of the third.

Jalen Outley led the Tigers with 16 points, while Itavus Brown scored 14 points — 11 in the second half — and Tristan Deloney had 10 points. Ahmad Smith added 9 points.

Simsboro head coach Adam Wodach, who led the Tigers to a 26-12 record in his first season at the Class B power program, felt his group competed till the end despite the final score.

“The score doesn’t reflect how good of a battle it was,” Wodach said. “Zwolle played unbelievable, really A-plus basketball from start to finish. We got down early but were in it after the first quarter but then they went on a 12-0 run and we pretty much trailed by 16 the rest of the game. We’d cut it nine or 10 and they would quickly get back to 16. If we eliminate that one bad stretch it might have turned out differently.”

The Tigers may not compete for a state championship this season, but improvement is evident from where the program stood a year ago — finishing 15-18 overall and losing in the second round of the playoffs.

Wodach said the Tigers didn’t let the wide margin on the scoreboard impact their effort in their final time on the court this season.

“I’m really proud of these kids. They never showed quit,” Wodach said. “Even when we got to the fourth and trailed by 20, we hit four threes in a row, but Zwolle just kept scoring too. We really came together as a team. Even as we got off the bus, one of our kids said, ‘Hey, we gotta break it out.’ That speaks volumes to where we are compared to the summer when a lot of these kids had never played together. Hopefully it shows them what it takes to get where we want to go.”

Wodach heaped specific praise onto Brown, Simsboro’s lone senior, for his consistency throughout the season and the standard he demanded of himself and his teammates.

Brown averaged 18.3 points per game in the playoffs, but his impact was felt far beyond the box score this season, according to Wodach.

“He never quits, and that bled into our program,” Wodach said. “I’m his third coach in four years and he had no reason to trust me or believe in me, but he embraced me as a coach and what we were trying to do and his impact on the program will last forever. Words can’t say enough. Thank you is not enough for him.”

Simsboro has finished with over 20 wins in eight of the last nine seasons and will head into an offseason with young players continuing to develop.