Boys’ City 3-A/Central : It’s Simple: Simon’s Not Enough

The long and successful run of the Marshall High basketball show, subtitled “Jerry Simon Against the World,” closed Tuesday night after one too many one-man performances.

Simon, the City scoring champion, had yet another award-winning effort, scoring a game-high 33 points. But the Barristers, who won the City 3-A title last Friday with a great team effort, had little in the way of a supporting cast in the quarterfinals of the Division I Southern California Regionals.

Fresno Edison, however, was not stuck looking to one star almost every time down the court, and that paid off as the Tigers got 23 points from guard David Barnett, 18 from guard Andre Sims and 17 from forward Charles Ross to defeat Marshall, 76-64, before a partisan hometown crowd of approximately 4,000 at Fresno City College.

Among the interested reviewers on hand was Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, whose Monarchs (29-0) get a showdown with Edison (23-5) in the semifinals Thursday night at Cal State Fullerton.

Tuesday, after making a same-day, 4 1/2-hour drive from Los Angeles, the Barristers (22-4) had a tough time getting started against the Tigers. All except Simon, that is.

Marshall, which never led in the game, was behind by only 10 at halftime, 39-29. That was mainly because of Simon, who scored all but eight of his team’s 29 first-half points. Most of the time, Simon seemed to be the only Marshall player looking for the shot.

The Barristers’ 15 turnovers certainly didn’t help matters, either.

“We were beaten in the first quarter by number 3 (Barnett),” Marshall Coach Sandy Greentree said. “I think that was the key. That and if we did not press, because that hurt us, too, with them (Edison) getting a lot of open shots. It changed the whole complexion of the game.”

Still, Marshall was not out of it. Edison, which also beat last season’s City 3-A champion, Fairfax, in the opening game of the regional playoffs here, led by only three, 59-56, after Erven Jaramilla’s scoop shot with 2:48 remaining in the game.

But before calling a timeout with 1:01 to play, the Tigers outscored Marshall, 8-2, to take a 67-58 lead.