Top scorer Simmons leads Carey
at state
Panthers (22-3) settle for
sixth place
Carey School sharpshooting senior
Ty Simmons fired up in his final two Panther games last weekend and
became the leading scorer at the 16-team State 1A tournament held at
Caldwell and Vallivue high schools, Caldwell.
Simmons (19.3 ppg) scored 25 and
24 points including 10 3-pointers for Carey Friday and Saturday to
finish his four-day, four-game Panther stint at state with 84 points
(21.0 ppg)—and 139 points (17.4 ppg) at the state tourney as a junior
and senior.
But Simmons would have traded some
of those points for a few when it mattered against Council and Lakeside.
Carey lost to Council 55-49 Thursday and to Lakeside 65-63 Saturday to
finish up its 2004 state visit with a 2-2 mark for sixth place.
Carey coach Dick Simpson said,
"Our offense never really got going against Council, and by the last
game against Lakeside we were mentally drained. But the kids have
nothing to hang their heads about.
"At the beginning of the season I
thought we had a chance to get to state, but I never dreamed we’d win
the conference and the district and be ranked #1 in the state for a good
part of the season. And we got to play in four games at the state
tournament."
Council (23-6) ended up in the
State 1A championship game, losing to Cole Valley Christian (23-3) by a
50-39 score Saturday. It was Cole Valley Christian’s second state
championship in three years. Lakeside (18-8) ended up with the
fourth-place trophy.
Simmons and senior Blake Surerus,
the outside-inside mainstays for Carey over the course of back-to-back
22-3 seasons, were the big guns at state. Simmons shot 33-for-69 (48%)
from the field with 32 rebounds, 14 assists and 11 steals. Surerus
averaged 10.0 ppg, had 20 assists, 41 rebounds and 18 blocked shots in
four games.
For his two-year varsity career,
Simmons (483 points this season, 775 points overall) crept past Shawn
Hennefer into tenth place on the all-time Carey scoring list. Simmons
warmed up and shot 10-for-14 from 3-point range against Genesee and
Lakeside.
Simmons had the highest
single-season total for Carey since senior Rich Payne hit for 485 points
(20.9 ppg) in the 20-9 season of 1996. The school record is 559 points
(28.0 ppg) set by Tim Tingey back in 1988.
Tadd Green, a Panther sophomore,
also came on strong in the final two games with 22-point and 25-point
efforts. He averaged 17.0 ppg at state and 12.7 ppg (317 points) for the
season. Simpson said, "Tadd had good games against Genesee and
Lakeside."
But the Council game is the one
Carey most regretted. Lumberjack 6-6 senior Nick McConnell was a major
inside force with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 8 blocked shots. "Their big
kid was a little intimidating. He got to Tadd, and everybody started
adjusting their shots," Simpson said.
"Whenever we haven’t been able to
do anything outside this year, we’ve been able to go inside. Council was
putting a lot of defensive pressure on the outside, and we just couldn’t
go inside." Carey shot 33% from the field, and Council also outscored
Carey 16-8 from the free throw line.
Despite their problems, Carey
players fought back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit and went ahead
49-48 with 1:25 left. But Council senior Greg Abide scored his only 4
points of the game in the final minute and the Lumberjacks went 4-for-4
from the stripe in the last 36 seconds.
The sudden loss snapped Carey’s
school-record 19-game win streak.
Simpson added, "That was a big
game for us. If we had won, we would have been on a good roll. But when
you get to state there are a lot of good teams. You have to have two or
three good games to do anything."
Determined to stay alive, Carey
shot 53% from the field in Friday’s 71-64 victory over Genesee. Simmons
led the way with 25 points and 7 assists, while Surerus had 13 points,
11 boards and 6 blocks, and Green added 22 points on 10-for-17 shooting.
Having commited only 33 turnovers
in its first three games, Carey’s thin bench showed the strain of four
games in four days Saturday. The Panthers had 23 turnovers in the 65-63
loss to Lakeside’s Knights. Lakeside also shot 12-for-19 free throws,
compared to Carey’s 3-for-7 at the line.
Green was terrific, shooting
11-for-12 for 25 points plus 6 rebounds. Simmons chipped in 24 points
and 11 rebounds, while Surerus finished his career with 10 points and 10
boards.
Results by game, and season stats:
Carey 62-44 over Idaho City:
Ty Simmons 24 points, Tadd Green 12, Blake Surerus 10, Tyler Cook 8, K.C.
Rivera 8. Rebounds (30)—
Simmons 11, Surerus 7. Blocked shots—Surerus 6. Assists—Surerus
5, Rivera 4, Cook 4. Steals—Rivera 6, Cook 3. 3-pointers
(2-19)—Cook 2. FG—44%. FT—8-10. Opp FT—3-8.
Council 55-49 over Carey:
Simmons 11 points, Green 9, Rivera 8, Surerus 7, Cook 6, Allen Peck 5,
Cody Baird 3. Rebounds (38)—
Surerus 13, Simmons 8, Rivera 7, Green 6. Blocked shots—Surerus
5. Assists—Rivera 5, Surerus 3, Simmons 3. Steals—Rivera
4, Simmons 3, Green 3. 3-pointers (3-16)—Cook 1, Simmons 1, Peck
1. FG—33%. FT—8-14. Opp FT—16-29.
Carey 71-64 over Genesee:
Simmons 25 points, Green 22, Surerus 13, Rivera 6, Cook 3, Devin Simpson
2. Rebounds (29)—
Surerus 11, Rivera 6, Green 6. Blocked shots—Surerus 6.
Assists—Simmons 7, Surerus 5, Rivera 4. Steals—Green 3,
Simmons 3. 3-pointers (5-14)—Simmons 4, Cook 1. FG—53%.
FT—10-21. Opp FT—4-9.
Lakeside 65-63 over Carey:
Green 25 points, Simmons 24, Surerus 10, Rivera 4. Rebounds (32)—
Simmons 11, Surerus 10. Assists—Surerus 7, Rivera 5. Steals—Simmons
3. 3-pointers (6-16)—Simmons 6. FG—48%. FT—3-7.
Opp FT—12-18.
Carey season statistics (25
games): Offense—64.9 ppg. Defense—50.4 ppg. FG—45%.
Free throws—Carey 213-376 (57%). Opposition—157-320 (49%). Top
season individual scorers—Ty Simmons 483 points for 19.3 ppg (84
points for 21.0 ppg at state), Tadd Green 317 for 12.7 (68 points for
17.0 at state), Tyler Cook 253 for 10.1, Blake Surerus 255 for 10.2, K.C.
Rivera 219 for 8.8, Devin Simpson 72 for 2.9. 3-pointers
(129)—Cook 64, Simmons 54, Simpson 6, Rivera 3, Allen Peck 2.
Rebounds—Surerus 231 (9.2), Simmons 193 (7.7), Green 149 (6.0)
Rivera 130 (5.2). Assists—Rivera 141 (5.6), Surerus 77 (3.1),
Simmons 74 (3.0), Cook 70 (2.8). Steals—Rivera 93. Blocked
shots—Surerus 75.