St. Francis (Ga.) ends Poca (W.Va.) High’s long win streak

Poca High became the first team in 28 years to win a state title in West Virginia with an undefeated record last season, and entered the 35th Beach Ball Classic with a 31-game winning streak.

But the Dots hadn’t played St. Francis (Ga.) in the past two years – or any team like it.

St. Francis opened up a 27-8 lead in the game’s opening eight minutes and held a double-digit lead for most of the remainder of its first-round game to snap Poca’s winning streak with a 73-56 win.

“There’s nobody as big, quick, fast, physical, as strong that keeps coming at you in West Virginia,” Poca coach Allen Osborne said. “They’ve got depth and a great player in [Kobi] Simmons. They’ve got the whole package. There’s no beast like that in West Virginia.”

St. Francis (8-3), the two-time defending Georgia Class A private school state champions, were led by Simmons, a 6-6 senior who is perhaps the most coveted senior point guard in the nation who has yet to make a college choice.

He scored a game-high 28 points and showed his all-around game. Simmons went 4 of 9 from 3-point range, was 8 of 9 from the free throw line, had a three-point play with a drive and scoop, and had a pair of emphatic dunks in the closing minutes.

“I just let everything come to me,” Simmons said. “My teammates have my back, so I let everything come to me and we got the win.”

Simmons added four assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Anthony Showell was the other Knight in double figures scoring with 10.

The Knights played in the 2014 Beach Ball, losing their opening game to Sagemont (Fla.) before winning three in a row by 20 points or more to claim the consolation championship.

“We were very confident going into the game that we were going to get out of the first round, it was just how we were going to do it and if we executed good and followed the game plan,” Simmons said. “We’re very excited to be moving on to the next round.”

Poca (4-1) scored the opening six points on a pair of 3-pointers by Luke Frampton and Elijah Cuffee, but St. Francis scored the next 22 points. Simmons had three treys and a lay-in during the run, while Anthony Showell and Avery Showell had five points each. Six of the game’s first seven baskets were 3-pointers.

“St. Francis has great quickness and they’re physical, and early we didn’t match that,” Osborne said. “I thought as the game went on we got better. But every time we cut it to 10 and needed a play we’d turn it over or take a bad shot or they’d get easy baskets.

“… You have to credit their defense. Their defense got up in us and made us take some quick shots and create critical turnovers at critical times.”

Poca trailed by 23 points in the first half before going on a 16-1 run to cut the deficit to 8, and trailed by 10 at halftime.

But Simmons opened the second half with a 3-pointer following a Poca turnover and the Dots got no closer than nine points in the second half, eventually falling 20 points down.

Cuffee, a 6-4 junior committed to Liberty, scored a team-high 23 points and Frampton, a 6-4 junior who has offers from several schools including Virginia and Clemson, added 17.

“We knew we were coming down here to see some competition, getting out of West Virginia to play some better teams and that’s what we got today,” Cuffee said. “I don’t think we were focused on keeping the streak. I think we were focused on coming here and getting better to go back and get the state championship and getting better as basketball players individually.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 8:48 PM with the headline "St. Francis (Ga.) ends Poca (W.Va.) High’s long win streak."