The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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BASKETBALL RECRUITING "Throughout the whole game, we did not play like we've been playing," Davis said. "We didn't look like the same team out there. We were play- ing okay on the defensive end, but we weren't being aggressive and making good decisions. We just have to settle down and play within ourselves." Davis added a 42-point, 20-re- bound game in a 61-40 win over Clinton March 3 to end the regular season. "I can't say enough about him," Maska said. "He and our guys have brought this program to another level. I haven't come to grips that this is the last time he will play on this floor. I'm going to try to keep not thinking about it. "I'm so proud of him and his ac- complishments. His best basketball is ahead of him." XAVIER SIMPSON EYES STATE TITLE Davis isn't the only Michigan signee still alive in the playoffs deep into March. Point guard signee Xavier Simpson (5-11, Rivals.com four-star and the No. 86 player na- tionally) and his Lima (Ohio) Senior High team advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 1992. Simpson led Lima Senior through the regionals and to the state tourna- ment with 18 points in a 68-61 win over Canton McKinley in the Divi- sion I regional title game at the Uni- versity of Akron March 12. He had to sit the last three minutes of the third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth quarter after picking up his fourth foul with 3:14 left in the third quarter, allowing McKinley to trim a 51-35 deficit to 53-51 with 4:32 to play, but Lima Senior hung on. They were slated play No. 3-ranked Wilmington (25-1) March 18 in a Di- vision I state semifinal game. Simpson finished the regular sea- son averaging 30 points per game for the No. 1 seed Lima Senior. "We stuck together. We were very unselfish. Everybody got a piece of the pie, which is very important," Simpson said. "We just hustled. That's what my dad and the other coaches preach. They made turnovers. We got some steals and got some easy buckets." Simpson already has a state cham- pionship as the starting point guard on Lima Central Catholic's Division III state champs in 2014, and he'll be looking to add another. Lima Senior improved to 26-0 when it beat Lorain (Ohio) High 46- 38 March 9 at the University of To- ledo's Savage Arena in a Division I regional semifinal behind Simpson's 16 points. He picked up his fourth foul with 18 seconds to go in the third quarter, but Lima Senior held on for the big win. Simpson had hit only one three- point shot in the Spartans' first four tournament games, but he made back-to-back threes in the first quar- ter to help Lima Senior jump out to the lead that it never lost. He finished the game 3 of 5 on triples. "I definitely got my touch back," he said. "Basketball is a game full