Simpkins’ 44-Points Leads Raiders to a Commanding 89-40 Victory Over North Florida Prep on Saturday

NICEVILLE, Florida – It was a big night for Northwest Florida men's basketball as the Raiders moved to 4-0 on the season after defeating North Florida Prep. 89-40 inside Raider Arena. It was an even bigger night for redshirt freshman guard, Tajuan Simpkins, who stole the show with a whopping 44-points scored and 11 made threes in the first start of his young career.

Simpkins was lighting up the floor, making 16 of his 19 shot attempts and 11 of his 14 three-point attempts. He also added five rebounds, three assists and three stills to his mix, making it one of the most dominate performances Raider fans have seen at a Northwest Florida game.

Tavion Banks was the only other Raider to reach double figures in the ball game after posting 10 points while bringing in five rebounds of his own and dishing out a pair of assists. Trey Brown was the leading rebounder for the Raiders tonight, securing seven total boards and adding seven points to his stat line.

As a team, NWF shot 54.8% from the floor and 43.2% from three – largely thanks to Simkins' heroic's from behind the arc. The Raiders held North Florida Prep. to a measly 25.5% shooting performance from the field tonight and forced 21 turnovers on the defensive end.

FIRST HALF

• The Raiders got off to a quick start, jumping out to a 7-0 lead.
• It wasn't long before NWF got its first double digit lead over North Florida Prep after a Jadyn Shider layup put the Raiders up 15-5 with just over 15-minutes remaining in the half.
• A RaSheed Jones three would put the Raiders up 28-15 with 6:25 to play in the half, forcing the Myrmidons to burn another timeout.
• The Raiders would close out the half in style after a highlight reel alley-oop dunk by Tavion Banks assisted by Tyrese Elliott

SECOND HALF

• Tajuan Simpkins would kick off the second half by draining four straight threes, which somehow doesn't even add up to half of the triples he made in the game.
• Finally, someone not named Tajuan Simkins sunk a three after Karahan Efeoglu dropped his first and only three of the night.
• Outside of a Trey Brown three and a couple of made layups here and there, the rest of the half pretty much consisted of Simpkins lighting up the floor.

UP NEXT

Northwest Florida is back at home at home next weekend for another pair of matchups – First, on Friday against Southern Union at 7:30 PM, and then again on Saturday at 7:30 when they take on Meridian College