Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Carey rides D.J.?s scoring to two state wins

Panthers (23-5) battle to the consolation final


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

At the beginning of the 2007-08 Idaho boys' basketball season, Carey coach Dick Simpson predicted—quietly and with his fingers crossed—that his son D.J. Simpson could become one of Idaho's best basketball players in this, his senior year.

That prediction came true for the versatile 6-3 Panther senior last weekend during the 16-team State 1A boys' basketball tournament in Caldwell.

In four games Simpson was on fire from the field. He was the highest scorer of all players in all five Gem State divisions who were playing their biggest games of the season. Simpson shot over 50% from the field and 64% from the stripe with 31 rebounds, 14 steals and 15 assists in four games.

He led Carey (23-5) to two state tournament wins and into Saturday's State 1A consolation championship, which the Fourth District champion Panthers lost 60-37 to Third District champion Cascade (23-4). It was the third straight year Carey lost in the consolation final.

Simpson scored 95 points (23.8 ppg) in four state tourney games and came within five points of breaking the all-time 23-year-old 1A scoring record of 99 (Corey Woodhouse of Oakley set in 3 games back in 1985).

The closest player to Simpson was Troy's sharpshooting 6-3 senior Jason Smith, whose 87 points included a 34-point effort in Troy's 59-42 win over Clark County of Dubois Thursday. After conquering Carey 56-47 Wednesday, Troy (21-6) captured its second State 1A title in four years 60-48 over Hagerman (20-9) on Saturday.

Simpson became the second Carey player in four years to lead all state tournament scorers. Ty Simmons had 84 points in four games back in 2004.

In all, Simpson finished his 28-game 2007-08 season with 460 points (16.4 ppg) and 842 points (10.1 ppg) for his four-year career, good for #11 on the school's all-time scoring list. He had 19 straight double-digit games to end the season and 24 in all, out of Carey's 28 games.

Thursday, Simpson made sure that Carey would stay around a while in Caldwell with a 28-point effort in the 67-51 Panther win over Council (16-11). He shot 11-for-18 from the field and added 8 boards. Carey shot 54% and broke away from a 41-36 lead after three with a 26-point fourth.

Others were Trevor Peck (14 points, four 3-pointers) and Tyler Parke (10 points).

Carey's hot shooting continued Friday when the Panthers shot 60% from the floor in the first half in building a 36-12 halftime lead over the shell-shocked Garden Valley Wolverines (19-5). Carey out-rebounded Garden Valley 45-33 and coasted to a 63-48 triumph.

Simpson (25 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals) had his best all-around game. Others were Parke (14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals), Kade Peterson (8 points), Peck (8 points, 3 boards) and Dillon Simpson (6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists).

On Saturday the Panthers stayed close to Cascade in the first half, but the Ramblers started pulling away in the third and nailed down the consolation trophy with a 19-4 advantage in the fourth. Cascade shot 48% from the floor compared to Carey's 31% and was better at the free throw line (12-for-17 next to Carey's 4-for-15).

D.J. Simpson (19 points, 9 rebounds) fouled out with about four minutes left, or he might have broken the State 1A all-time scoring record.

In other state tournament results, the Burley Bobcats (27-0) stretched their two-season winning streak to 46 games in winning their second consecutive 4A championship 75-54 over Bonneville of Idaho Falls (18-8). Burley won three state games by an average 23 ppg;

First-time state tournament winners were Fruitland (23-2) 68-51 over Kimberly (16-8) in 3A and Vallivue of Caldwell (23-3) 67-45 over Coeur d'Alene (22-3) in 5A; and Firth (23-2) captured its second straight 2A title 56-47 over West Side (18-5).

Carey's final statistics:

Overall record: 23-5 (10-1 home, 13-4 away). Offense: 1545 points (55.2 ppg). Defense: 1147 points (41.0 ppg). Free throws: 259-425, 61%, opponents 209-400, 52%.

Individual scoring: D.J. Simpson 460 points (16.4 ppg, 21 3-pointers); Tyler Parke 283 (10.1); Trevor Peck 243 (8.7, a team-high 45 3-pointers); Kade Peterson 211 (7.5); Blake Whitby 106 (3.8); Dillon Simpson 106 (3.8); Heith Adamson 58 (2.1); Tyler Wilde 38; Scott Ellsworth 23; Jared Cenarrusa 10; Jordan Surerus 6; Brett Adamson 1.

Simpson leads All-Northside boys

Carey senior D.J. Simpson, the leading scorer of all players in last weekend's state boys' basketball tournaments in the Boise area, leads the picks for All-Northside Conference All-Stars announced this week.

Simpson finished as the top All-Northside vote getter with 58 votes followed by Richfield senior Braiden Buckner (48), Community School senior Mac Whittington (45), Richfield sophomore Michael Lezamiz (40) and Dietrich senior Anthony Pitman (28 votes).

Whittington and Buckner return as first-team All-Northside picks. Whittington became only the second Cutthroat ever (John Hayes the first) to earn two first-team honors.

On the second team were Community School senior Spencer Harris and Carey senior Tyler Parke (24 votes each), Shoshone sophomore Josh Olsen (22), Camas County senior Ben McLam (20) and Dietrich junior Jaron Stoddard (17).

Honorable mention picks were:

From Carey—Seniors Blake Whitby and Kade Peterson, and sophomore Dillon Simpson. From The Community School—Seniors Max Harris and Ian Ingram. From Richfield—Juniors Brody Norman and Tel Clark, and senior Matt Lezamiz. From Bliss—Sophomore Cole Erkins. From Dietrich—Senior Marshall Hollingshead. From Shoshone—Senior Topher Dayton.

"Coach of the Year" was Richfield's Garr Ward.

Several Northside players were chosen for the North/South 1A/2A All-Star girls' and boys' games today, Wednesday, March 5 at 6:00/7:30 p.m. at Valley High School, and also for the East/West 5A/1A All-Star contests Monday, March 10 at 6:00/7:30 p.m. at Twin Falls High.

For The Community School, Jessie Curran is playing in tonight's 1A/2A game at Valley. Whittington and Spencer Harris are in tonight's 7:30 p.m. All-Star contest, and Whittington will also play in next Monday's all-district game for coach Joe Messick's West squad.

Carey's Jennifer Cenarrusa will play in tonight's North/South game at Valley. D.J. Simpson and Tyler Parke will play for the boys' team coached by Dick Simpson tonight. And D.J. Simpson will play in next Monday's all-classification game in Twin Falls. He is on the East coached by Burley's Jack Bagley.

Community School awards

Community School basketball coaches Ryan Waterfield and Mike Wade have announced team awards.

Most Valuable Player was Emily Eshman. Best All-Around was Jessie Curran. Leadership awards went to Cody Curran and Hannah Hennessy. The Grit Award was given to Marin Shepardson. Sylvie Goddard won the Inspirational Award, while Coaches' Awards were presented to Natalie Goddard and Emily Eshman.

Jessie Curran made second-team All-Conference and Caroline Fairchild earned honorable mention.

Wade's Cutthroat boys' varsity awards were Max Harris as the Most Inspirational Player; Whittington MVP; Travis Stone as Most Improved; and Ian Ingram as the Best Defensive Player. Junior varsity honors were Paul Davis MVP and Dylan Prescott, Most Improved.

This year's Cutthroat team put up the second-best record, 13-7 for a 65% winning percentage, of all 15 varsity teams fielded by the Sun Valley independent school. Whittington (804 points) and Spencer Harris (640) are now ranked second and fifth in all-time scoring.

Spencer Harris took over first place on the career assists list (180, 4.4 assists per game) while Whittington (581 boards) shattered Jimmy Fairchild's previous career record of 466. Whittington also set the single-game rebounding standard with 26.




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