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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Maplesville High School’s Chris Simon is this week’s athlete of the week following his performances against Billingsley, Verbena and Francis Marion High Schools from Jan. 16-23. The sharpshooting junior guard has added another element to the Red Devils by knocking down shots from beyond the 3-point line at a higher clip heading into the home stretch of the season.

Maplesville head coach Undra Rush alluded to the shot making as what has his team on a five-game winning streak after a 50-27 win over Francis Marion on Jan. 23. Simon has led that shooting revival by knocking down multiple 3-pointers in all three games from Jan. 16-23 that were in the friendly confines of Maplesville’s home gym. It started in a 49-37 win over Billingsley on Jan. 16 where the junior hit four 3-pointers and notched 17 points to tie his season high while handing out four assists.

He followed that up on Jan. 20 with another 17 points with three 3-pointers and four more assists in a 71-26 win over Verbena. His week closed with a modest nine points in the Francis Marion win, but still knocked down two 3-pointers and had three assists. Simon has joined players like Aidan Abbott, Jakobe Nix and Nehemiah McCary on Maplesville’s roster that could take over a game at any time in their own unique way — Simon’s from beyond the arc.

The junior started the season with 17 points in the opener but did not score over 12 points until January where he has scored 14.8 points over Maplesville’s last four games as of Jan. 23. The shooting revival has been personal for Simon too. After hitting three 3-pointers in the season opener, he only hit more than one 3-pointer in two games until that same four-game stretch where he has hit 13 in the four games.