Lima Senior’s 79-54 boys basketball win over Toledo St. Francis on Saturday night had a little bit of everything except drama.
There was no suspense and no question who was going to win. It was a no-doubter and it was that way almost from the beginning.
Lima Senior, ranked No. 2 in Division I in The Associated Press state poll, cruised to its 15th straight win this season behind 21 points by Xavier Simpson and 11 from Ruben Flowers and Jarius Ward. It also maintained its perfect record in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference at 9-0.
The Spartans were never challenged after hitting St. Francis with all-out defensive pressure in the opening minutes of the game.
The Knights’ first nine possessions of the game produced a pair of free throws, a missed shot and seven turnovers.
It only got worse from there. Lima Senior forced 21 turnovers in the first half on its way to a 48-14 lead after two quarters. At halftime, Simpson had scored as many points by himself as St. Francis had as a team.
The Spartans’ biggest lead was 41 points, at 62-21, before coach Quincey Simpson emptied the bench. Fourteen players got into the game for Lima Senior.
St. Francis (11-6, 4-6 TRAC) got almost half of its points (25) in the fourth quarter with Lima Senior’s starters already done for the night.
It was Lima Senior’s second win of the season over the Knights. The Spartans rolled to a 103-63 win at St. Francis on Jan. 19.
“I think we were ready to go from the start. Overall, we came out with a lot of energy,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson said. “I thought our press gave them some issues. Our pressure caused them some major issues.
“Games like this you just want to come out and do the things you do well and hopefully it’s not a dog fight. Fortunately, we played better than we did Friday night (a 69-60 win at Toledo Central Catholic). We came out with our foot on the gas pedal and we never looked back.
“I gave some guys some extra minutes and gave some guys some early minutes. We tried a different lineup, we tried a different lineup last night,” he said.
That different lineup put 6-foot, 7-inch sophomore Keaton Upshaw into the starting five along with Jaylin Thomas, Ruben Flowers, Jarius Ward and Xavier Simpson.
“I thought it was pretty effective. I’ve got 10 guys I can start, just depending on what we have going on. That’s what makes are practices tough. Guys know they’re competing for minutes,” Quincey Simpson said.
Upshaw had six points and three rebounds in his second start of the season.
Lima Senior shot 60 percent on field goals (31 of 52). St. Francis finished the game shooting 44 percent (18 of 41) after making only 4 of 15 shots in the first half.
Lima Senior had a 28-21 rebounding advantage and pressured St. Francis into 25 turnovers overall.
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