Simpson surpasses 2,000 points as Brock sweeps Waterloo
Somewhat lost in the Brock Badgers men’s basketball team’s 101-58 beatdown of the visiting Waterloo Warriors Saturday night was an impressive career milestone for fourth-year guard Johneil Simpson.
The 24-year-old Toronto native scored a game-high 27 points on the night and surpassed the 2,000-point plateau for his impressive career.
“I can’t lie,” he said. “I knew I needed nine points coming into the game, but when it happened, that was the surprise part. I didn’t realize that I had got there already.”
The 6-foot-5 player described achieving the mark as a blessing.
“To be able to do it, a lot of guys don’t get the opportunity to play that much and to get to do it at Brock is just a blessing.
“I am actually speechless.”
Next on his agenda is 3,000 points.
“I’m going for it,” the media and communications studies major said. “I will never stop trying to score so if I can get near it, I will definitely go for it.”
Brock head coach Charles Kissi believes Simpson has an excellent chance to become the all-time leading scorer at Brock.
“For him, it’s just taking the right shots and making the right plays,” he said. “If there is anyone on our team that we challenge real hard, it is him and he responds every time.”
That challenge is for a reason.
“I think he can be incredibly dynamic,” Kissi said. “He is such a great scorer and if his head is on straight, he’s incredibly difficult to guard.”
Simpson has no problem with getting pushed extra hard.
“The coaches have a really high standard for me which I understand. I allow them to coach me hard because I know it is the best for me,” he said. “If other guys on the team see that he coaches me that way, they know he has the same expectation for them.”
Simpson can’t believe he is almost through his fourth year at Brock.
“It feels like I got here yesterday,” he said. “You blink and it’s over and you really have to enjoy the games and practices.”
It’s a given that Simpson would trade all his personal accomplishments for an elusive national crown.
“We just have to keep working hard every day in practice,” Simpson said.
Brock improved to 16-2 with the victory and looked dominant against an overmatched Waterloo squad.
“We’ve been doing some different things and we let the guys do the scout (scouting report) tonight and take ownership for some of the things that we have been doing and they put the game plan together,” Kissi said. “They executed it very well.”
STATS PACK
Badgers 101 Warriors 58
BPSN Star of the Game: Brock’s Johneil Simpson with 27 points.
For the Brock Badgers: Simpson 27; Dani Elgadi 18; Cassidy Ryan 17; Daniel Cayer 12.
For the Waterloo Warriors: Nedim Hodzic 13; David Ramon Prados 10; Justin Malnerich 10.
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Brock 50.6, Waterloo 29.7. Free throws: Brock 16-24, Waterloo 15-23. Rebounds: Brock 47, Waterloo 40. Turnovers: Brock 6 , Waterloo 16. Scoring by quarters: Brock 20-31-29-21=101, Waterloo 18-6-14-20=58.
Up next: Brock is at Laurier Wednesday.
NORTHEY MAKES WELCOME RETURN
Shannon Northey made a welcome return to the Brock women’s basketball lineup Saturday night.
The 6-foot-3 centre played 18 minutes and had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots to help the Badgers thump the visiting Waterloo Warriors 71-44 in Ontario University Athletics action.
The 20-year-old Mississauga native was playing in first game since Jan. 6 when she pulled a hip flexor in a game against McMaster.
“It was pretty painful,” the teacher education student said. “It was pretty frustrating because it is a muscle you use every day to walk. You don’t realize how much you use it until you pull it.”
Brock head coach Ashley MacSporran was delighted to have Northey back.
“She is such a vocal person on the court, especially when we are playing in our zone,” she said. “Because she is vocal, she is in the right spot, she tells people where to go and she’s a great rebounder.”
Northey is in her second year at Brock after spending one year playing basketball and studying at St. Mary’s University in England.
“I loved it,” she said, although, the basketball was not at the same calibre as the OUA. “It’s not even close. It is like a whole other game here.”
It took her awhile to adjust to playing at the Ontario university but playing against former Badger Kira Cornelissen expedited that process.
“She is phenomenal,” Northey said. “She is the nicest person I know but she was so, so good. Me coming in every day and working against her in practice was a good way to build my confidence.”
Northey laughed when she heard that MacSporran described her as being vocal.
“It’s not that I yell at people on the court, but I talk to people, let then know where I am just because when you rotate on defence it is really easy to get lost in translation.”
She doesn’t get too upset when she goes scoreless like she did Saturday night.
“In general, I find that I usually play better defensively than I do offensively,” she said. “I’m trying to get a lot more comfortable on offence and it will come.”
The Badgers got a much needed win to end a three-game losing streak and improve to 6-12 on the season.
“There’s nothing that a win can’t fix and nothing that adding players can help you make feel better too,” MacSporran said. “It was a better atmosphere around the whole team.”
After having six or seven players at her disposal for the past several games, MacSporran had the luxury of 10 players in uniform Saturday night.
“It’s managing minutes and I don’t want to overplay them and some of them have only practised twice,” she said.
Despite Waterloo coming in with only one win on the season, MacSporran wasn’t taking the Warriors for granted.
“Waterloo took Laurier to four points and they are playing tough right now,” she said. “They could have won the game last night and we knew they were going to come in and play hard.”
STATS PACK
Badgers 71 Warriors 44
BPSN Star of the Game: Brock’s Courtney McPherson with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
For the Brock Badgers: Miranda Smith 16; Baelie Campbell 16; Kristin Gallant 13; McPherson 10.
For the Waterloo Warriors: Ann Stewart 10; Julia Pavlik 9.
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Brock 37.7, Waterloo 22.1. Free throws: Brock 19-33, Waterloo 10-12. Rebounds: Brock 53, Waterloo 52. Turnovers: Brock 20 , Waterloo 19. Scoring by quarters: Brock 5-24-16-26=71, Waterloo 9-15-7-13=44.
Up next: Brock is at Laurier Wednesday.
