More Top Picks Best Fidget Toys For Classrooms
player ready...THOSE YOUNG Doctors of Doom from Simeon used their well-sharpened scalpels Wednesday to cut out another dangling reputation.
Julian came into the Simeon gym with a 12-2 record–including six consecutive victories–but not even Medicare could have protected the Jaguars from a 78-47 shellacking in a Red-South mismatch.
”We did what we had to do to win,” Simeon coach Bob Hambric said during a typically taciturn postmortem. ”We`re coming along. We`re about halfway to where we want to be later this year. We`re getting our confidence in what we want to do.”
Translated, that should mean Hambric`s players are on schedule in their quest for a second consecutive state championship. Few at Wednesday afternoon`s game could have argued; the winners used an errorless first quarter–capped by 12 unanswered points–to take a 25-12 lead and make the final three periods either a showcase or an exercise in futility, depe qqparity c2 qqparity qqparity qqparity qqparity qqparity unior, led Simeon (15-1, 4-0) with 17 points. Senior David Knight and junior guard Allen Gordon added 16 and sophomore guard Deon Butler tallied 11. The only Simeon starter to miss double digits was 6-6 1/2 junior Erving Small, ”but he had the flu this week and even missed practice yesterday,” said Hambric.
Simeon, ranked No. 2 in The Tribune poll behind Proviso West, has been under the spotlight all season, and the players have had problems adjusting to the roles Hambric wants them to play. ”We`ve had some players try to be leaders who really weren`t,” he said. But recently, Knight (”he keeps the team together”) and David (”he`s our quiet leader”) have emerged as leaders.
And all season, other teams–like Julian–have tried to use Simeon as a touchstone. ”They talk about how good they are compared to us, and I wish they wouldn`t do that,” said Hambric. ”I don`t think we need that.”
JULIAN COACH Don Williams, whose team dropped to 3-1 in the Red-South, said he felt more like a pretender to the throne than a contender for it. Julian hit 17 of 48 shots from the field and was hounded into 27 turnovers;
Simeon was 31 of 69 with 15 miscues, but only three turnovers came in the first half.
This was supposed to be a battle between two of the three unbeaten teams in the section, and now Hambric looks toward a Friday date against Carver
(10-3, 4-0). ”I like to play tough games back to back,” he said. ”It keeps me sharp as a coach and keeps the kids sharp.”
That may be ”sharp” as in sharp as a scalpel, and if that weren`t enough, help is on the way for the Wolverines next month when 6-5 junior Nelison Anderson becomes eligible.
”The cavalry may be coming,” Hambric said.