On biggest stage, Simco was unstoppable for Hollis Brookline boys basketball

Matt Dowling knew just what the Oyster River High School boys basketball team was going up against.

For the last four years, the Hollis Brookline High School senior has had to battle during practice with Matt Simco.

It was no easy task, but one that Dowling believes made him a more physical player, and made for a nightmare matchup for the Bobcats.

"Every day is a grind against him, every day is a battle," Dowling said. "He knows how to play hard. Every day during practice against him is a battle and it got me a lot better. Every single game at Durham, he’s come up big. He’s a beast. He knows how to come out for big games."

Simco had one of his biggest games when it counted most, scoring 17 points and grabbing 19 rebounds, matching the total for the entire Oyster River team. That performance led HB to a 56-40 win over the Bobcats in the Division II championship game.

It was the third time Simco had played at the University of New Hampshire, including this year's and last year's semifinal games, and in those games, he averaged 19.3 points and 13.3 rebounds.

Oyster River coach Lorne Lucas knew going in that if the Bobcats were to have a chance at beating the Cavaliers, they were going to have to slow down Simco.

"We talked about it for days," Lucas said. "We’ve got to stop Simco, and we didn’t. What was happening at times, too, the ball would go away, and (guys) were thinking help and the ball would go up and they’d try to recover. The ball would go to Simco and it was too late. He’s too fast and he’s too strong."

Of his 19 rebounds, eight of them were on the offensive end and Simco was able to turn them into points - as a team, HB had 18 second-chance points. That ability to rebound is something that he takes pride in more than scoring.

"Scoring can come, rebounding is an effort thing," Simco said. "There’s a lot of bodies flying around on the rebounds. You’ve just got to calm down and make sure you secure the ball and we’re big enough to make sure no one is going to block us. We’ve just got to control ourselves and get it back up."

With the way Simco and Dowling played, rebounding became a key part of the Cavs success, even though it wasn't something first-year coach Cole Etten stressed.

"It was never an emphasis of mine, the guys just went after it," Etten said. "At the beginning of the year, we talked about our goals, and we’ve been working toward our goals the whole year. These guys kept after it. We got to a good point this year. The seniors did an excellent job as leaders. The captains have done a great job to get us in the right spot."

For Etten, who graduated from HB in 2009, it's the second championship in his short tenure as a varsity head coach. He also won a Division II title in his first year coaching at Bishop Brady in 2015.

When Etten took over for his former coach, Mike Soucy, at the beginning of the school year, he was already familiar with the team he was inheriting, having served as the Cavs' junior varsity coach before going to Bishop Brady.

"My freshman year, I thought I’d be playing for Cole," Simco said. "When he came back, I knew he was a great guy, and I was happy. He told us he knew we had a good squad, and if we executed and stuck to our goals, we could make it here. Look what happened."