3/9/1996 vs. St. Paul ... NONCONFERENCE / NEUTRAL / STATE TOURNAMENT / Finals
Season Game #: 26 / Current Record: 23 - 3
WAHOO: 10 ... 13 ... 19 ... 21 .... 63
St. Paul: 13 ... 10 ... 13 ... 16 .. .... 52
Wahoo captured the 1996 Class C1 State Tournament championship with a 63 - 52 win over St. Paul. St. Paul was the 1995 champion, striving to repeat but their hopes were crushed under a barrage of Wahoo three point shots, five of them coming from Mike Simons. It was a virtuoso performance by Simons who led Wahoo with 34 points and twelve rebounds. St. Paul led early in the game, 17 - 10, but Wahoo went on a 9-0 run and the game was tied at the half at 26. One minute into the second half Simons connected on a three and the Warriors took the lead at 26-25 -- they wouldn’t trail again. St. Paul did close to within three early in the fourth quarter, but a deep three by Eric Eddie and back-to-back three’s by Simons put Wahoo in control at 53-44 with 3:40 left. St. Paul coach Rick Peters commented, “We were hoping Simons wouldn’t get hot. But he did, and Eddie hit a long 3 at a critical time.” Simons reflected after the game, “Once I hit a couple, I felt I could just about hit anything I wanted.” Wahoo connected on ten of twelve free throws in the final three minutes to bring home the win. Josh Anderson also hit double figures with 11 points. Wahoo won its seventh title in ten consecutive trips to the state tournament, the other six coming in Class B.
Noteworthy:
Leading Scorer: Mike Simons 34 pts.; Rebounds -- Mike Simons 12 ; Assists -- Josh Anderson 8
Wahoo
freethrows: 21 / 32 66 % ; fieldgoals: 17 / 36 47 % ; three point: 8 / 17 47 %
St. Paul
freethrows: 13 / 21 62 % ; fieldgoals: 16 / 53 30 %; three point: 8 / 28 29 %
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