With a couple of key players out of the lineup, Western Albemarle needed Josh Sime to take things up a level Friday night.
The junior big man responded by just absolutely stuffing the stat sheet in a 68-48 Region 4D quarterfinal win over Jefferson Forest.
Twenty-seven points. Ten rebounds. Four steals. Three blocks. One turnover.
“I don’t think you can play any better than that,” said Western Albemarle coach Darren Maynard. “We needed him to come up big and he did, I thought that was a big part of the game.”
Sime was a consistent presence, scoring throughout the contest. But he was particularly impressive in the second half where he scored 17 of those 27.
“Just about everything was working for me, pump fakes, lay-ups, dunks, everything was going,” Sime said.
The Warriors were down a couple of crucial players and in addition to Sime carrying a big part of the load, Western got some key contributions from Elliott Kessler who had 12 points and three steals, Luca Tesoriere who had eight points and three steals and James Meenan who finished with seven points and eight boards.
“We were missing a couple of people tonight and next man up is our philosophy, we hope to get them back for Tuesday,” Maynard said.
The Warriors’ ability to take care of business despite missing some key pieces is a good sign for a team that has some lofty goals and the depth to reach them.
“We don’t want to win one playoff game, we don’t want to win two playoff games, we want to win all the playoff games,” Sime said.
Business picks up Tuesday when the Warriors face G.W. Danville in the Region 4D semifinals, an elimination game at 7 p.m.
