Senior Night Goes Good for Simpson

Men's Basketball - Redding, CA (2/3/2008)

 

Senior Night is always emotional - especially when it is another game down to the wire. The Simpson University men's basketball team is used to tight contests by now, though. That experience helped the Red Hawks hold Holy Names at bay for a 78-74 victory in their final regular-season home game Saturday.

"We've been doing this all season long," Red Hawks guard Daniel Eoff said about another close battle. "It's good to get a win on Senior Night. My family drove a long way to see me play." Eoff and three other seniors, Alex Nixon, Markise Morrison and Calvin Johnson, were making possibly their last home appearance at Simpson and wanted to go out in style.

It wasn't an easy win, as Simpson struggled to close out the game after grabbing a nine-point lead. The Red Hawks were 4-of-11 from the foul line down the stretch, but came through defensively to earn their sixth win in the past eight games. "I remember two years ago it was Senior Night and we beat the same team then," Johnson said. "It's especially nice since we have been winning a lot as of late and this keeps it going."

The victory also keeps alive the chance that Simpson (6-7 California Pacific Conference, 7-17) may get home playoff game during the conference tournament.
Holy Names (7-5 Cal-Pac, 14-12) claimed the first league meeting in convincing fashion, 86-71 on Jan. 5. It's the only double-digit conference loss the Red Hawks have had all season. But Simpson turned the tables this time around. Jason Washington and Glenn Payne scored 17 points, while Nixon had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Morrison finished with 10 points and Johnson and Eoff had six each.

The Hawks led 39-38 at halftime, but Simpson seized the lead again four minutes into the second half, relying on some big 3-point shots from Eoff, Morrison and Dwight Bond. Holy Names also didn't have a guard fast enough to stay with Washington, who drove into the paint with abandon in the second half. His driving score put Simpson in front 74-65 with 7:30 left in the game. But that would be the Red Hawks' last field goal.

From there, Simpson made just enough free throws to hold off the Hawks. Bond had a huge offensive rebound off a missed foul shot with a 33 seconds left. But it wasn't until Washington sank a free throw with 4.9 seconds left that the Red Hawks faithful were able to breathe easy. "It was great. Winning on Senior Night is indescribable," said Morrison, who is the school's all-time leading scorer. Morrison started his first three years, but has been coming off the bench lately. "It didn't hit me until warm-ups. I view this as my court and I wanted to help get a win in my last chance to play in front of Redding."

The Red Hawks outrebounded Holy Names 42-30 for the game. Josh Dozier led the Hawks with 17 points, while Troy Cotton had 16 and Aaron Kanno 12.

Simpson will look to continue it's winning ways against William Jessup next Saturday in Rocklin, CA. Tip-off is at 7:30pm.