Simpson’s scoring, assists lead Harding past Poland

January 4, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

WARREN

Undersized and soft-spoken Warren Harding junior point guard Gabe Simpson will never be the loudest person on the court.

He simply lets his game do the talking.

Simpson scored 14 points and dished out 10 assists to his talented Raiders teammates as Harding ran away from visiting Poland in the second half of Saturday’s 65-50 victory.

“Gabe — what he lacks in physical size he makes up for in intelligence and his basketball I.Q.’s very good and let’s not forget those guys on the end of the break are pretty easy to throw it to, too,” said Harding coach Andy Vlajkovich.

After Poland capitalized on four Harding turnovers at the outset of the third quarter to take a short-lived 27-26 lead, the Raiders ran off a 16-6 run to break the game open.

Much of their success came from a stifling defensive effort after falling behind, turning missed Poland shots and turnovers into transition baskets.

“That’s our game,” Simpson said. “Transition’s our game. We know how to play in the half-court, but I feel like when we get in transition, we’re unstoppable. We’ve got great people to run the full-court.”

Poland guard Kyle Dixon knocked down an off-balance jump shot with 5:15 left in the third to give Poland a 27-26 lead. Simpson immediately responded with a 3-pointer from the left wing on their ensuing possession.

After an offensive foul call on the Bulldogs, Simpson drilled another 3-pointer to give Harding (7-1, 4-0) a 32-27 lead with 4:05 left in the third.

Dixon, who scored a team-high 13 points, drilled a 3-pointer of his own with 1:47 remaining in the quarter to bring Poland to within five points, but Harding center Derek Culver — all 6-foot-9 of him — muscled home a rebound-putback while drawing a foul call.

Shondell Jackson scored four more points during the decisive run before Harding ramped up the pace in the fourth quarter.

Shakem Johnson scored 10 of his 12 points in the final eight minutes and Jackson capped the night with two fast-break finishes — the second a lob play from Simpson — for an exciting conclusion to Harding’s impressive All-American Conference win.

“[Poland is] as disciplined as any team we’ll see this year and they have the skill to go with it,” Vlajkovich said. “I don’t have enough good words to say about [Poland coach Ken Grisdale] and the job he’s done since I was in high school.

“I thought with our kids buying into our system, that’s the best half-court defense I’ve seen us play this year and I was pleased with our defensive discipline because the few times we were not, they got buckets.”

The Bulldogs (5-2, 3-1), missing senior point guard Nick Gajdos due to illness, met Harding for the first time since the Raiders joined the AAC prior to this season.

Saturday’s matchup — and the second on Jan. 20 — between the two area powers have been a long time coming.

“Our kids did a great job and they battled ... those are some nice athletes running around out there. You watch them and you go, ‘Woah!” said Grisdale.

“We had the opportunity to bump up a division in our league. We wanted to play these guys and play them again.

“Enrollment-wise, we’re supposed to be in the middle [of three tiers]. I’m very pleased with our effort and execution and disappointed with the result, but this game’s only gonna make us better for a tournament run that we hope to make.”