Young’s coach, Ron Branch, had reason to smile early in the third quarter Friday night at Chicago State.
Behind a stingy defense, his fourth-ranked Dolphins opened the half with a 9-2 run and eventually held on for a 67-63 non-conference victory over No. 17 Simeon.
Senior guard Andre Knox scored the first six points of the third quarter as the Dolphins (5-0) built their 29-26 halftime lead to 49-36 with a quarter to go.
“We came out in the second half with more intensity,” said Knox, who finished with 15 points.
“This was our first real challenge and we came through, together, as a team.”
Simeon (2-2) managed to close to 62-61 with 1 minute 36 seconds left, but an Anthony Harris free throw, a Sterling Williams field goal and two free throws by David Howard sealed the victory.
Harris, a senior guard, finished with a team-high 24 points. Williams, a junior guard, added 10 points off the bench, all in the second half.
“It was outstanding,” Branch said.
“If I had game balls to give out, Sterling would definitely get one of them along with Harris, Knox, Howard [a steal and two blocks in the third-quarter run] and [DeWitt] Scott.”
Branch was particularly pleased with Scott, who had the task of guarding Simeon’s DaShawn Walker, who scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the first half.
Calvin Brock had 14 points for Simeon.
“Walker killed us in the first half,” Branch said. “We had to stop him, so we put Scott on him and we held him to two field goals.”
Scott and Walker do have a history.
“We go way back,” said Scott, whose four points don’t explain his tremendous role in Young’s victory.
“We’ve been playing together since 7th grade. We have a lot of love for each other.
“As a senior, I wanted to go out of [this rivalry] with a win, and there’s no better way to do it than against your best friend.”
The largest lead in the first half was six. Simeon led 14-12 after one quarter but trailed 29-26 at the half after Young’s 9-2 run.
“The key was everybody stepped up,” Harris said.
“The teamwork was awesome.”
