Before heading out to Morehouse to begin his collegiate career, Joshua Simmons laced up his sneakers one last time for the city of Orangeburg in the Orangeburg County Summer Basketball Tournament senior boys’ championship game.

Going up against a tough Bowman defense, Simmons tallied 24 points to lead Orangeburg #1 to a 53-40 win.

The game didn’t exactly start the way Orangeburg head coach Dora Waymer and her players wanted it to. Six different Bowman players made their way to the basket to put points on the board. However, Bowman’s offense was balanced as Nick Jones and Qwaishan Glover led the way with three points each to give their team a 14-8 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

Orangeburg continued to battle, but they still found themselves down 21-17 at the half. Simmons knew something had to change for his team with only two quarters left and that change started with him. The O-W alum put his team on his back by scoring 12 of his 24 points in the third quarter. Simmons’ productivity helped Orangeburg go on an 18-2 run to give them a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter.

“This is a performance that Josh should have been doing all season,” Waymer said. “He finally decided to play team ball instead of trying to be an individual. When you play team ball, you succeed.”

Orangeburg finished the game outscoring Bowman in the fourth 16-13 to take home the title. For Simmons, having a few of his friends and former teammates on the floor to share the summer league title with made it even more special.

“It felt really good to get one more,” Simmons said. “I’ve been playing with these boys for a long time and we all know how each other plays. It felt good to be out here one last time.”

In the girls’ title game, Imani Sellers and her Holly Hill #1 teammates gave Orangeburg #2 gave everything they had, but Janae Simmons scored seven of her 11 points in the final quarter to ensure that Orangeburg would take home the title in a 43-36 win.

“This was just some really, really good summer work,” Orangeburg head coach Josh Staley said. “i wanted the girls to come in and get the game going pretty well.”

Kimberly Henderson and Daneilya Tinker led Orangeburg to a 10-2 lead in the opening quarter. From there, they managed to keep a comfortable lead until the fourth quarter. That’s when Sellers took over. Sellers scored 10 of her 18 points in the fourth to help Holly Hill erase Orangeburg’s lead and tie the game 36-36. In the end, Orangeburg proved to be too strong for Holly Hill as Simmons scored five of the last seven points to put the game away.

“That’s going to help us because we were able to establish some character,” Staley said of the adversity that his players faced. “All 15 of these girls are going to be playing for us next year. So, it helped us gain some character in a tough game.”

Edisto was able to hold off H-K-T in a 38-35 win to claim their first Junior Boys championship. Ajya Darby led the way for Edisto with eight points, followed by Wallance Macklin with seven.

For 20 years, Orangeburg County has been able to provide the community’s youth with a recreational outlet during the summer with this event. Tournament director Hercules Mack believes that the success they’ve had this year will definitely help the event as they plan to hold next year’s tournament at the Orangeburg County Aquatic Facility.

“With the turnout we’ve been having,” Mack said, “I think we’ve been really, really successful. By giving out trophies and by the tournament being so competitive, we’ll probably have even more participants next year.”

Mack expressed his thanks for those who participated as well as Orangeburg County School District 4 for hosting the event.

Senior Boys Championship

OBG-1 (53): Joshua Simmons 24, Jayson Leverett 19, C. Davis 4, J. Samuels 4, A. Corley 2.

BOW (40): Sanders 9, Jones 8, J. Willis 6, F. Williams 6, Q. Glover 5, N. Hallman 4, A. Williams 2.

Girls Championship

OBG-2 (43): Kimberly Henderson 12, Janae Simmons 11, Jasmine Carson 10, Tinker 4, Blocker 2, Snipes 2, Haigler 2.

HH-1 (36): Imani Sellers 18, J. Smith 8, R. Scales 7, S. Haney 3.

T&D Sports Writer Emery Glover can be reached by e-mail at eglover@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Check out his blog, Cover 2, at www.thetandd.com.

 

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