Michigan signee and Lima, Ohio, Senior point guard Xavier Simpson made the Ohio Division I All-Tournament team, but he would rather have won a state title. Lima Senior fell two points short in its quest despite Simpson’s 17-point game in a 57-55 loss to Westerville South.

Lima Senior finished its season 29-1.

Simpson’s assist to Rico Stafford tied the game at 55 with 25 seconds remaining, but South’s Jordan Humphrey hit a floater in the lane with 2.3 seconds remaining. Simpson’s halfcourt shot at the buzzer wasn’t close.

“Early they got some good transition opportunities but I think we limited those guys in the second half. Bascially, we were just getting the nervousness out of our system,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson, Xavier’s dad, said. “But we erased the first half and put ourselves in position to win, but we came up short.”

South led 14-5 at one point in the first half.

Simpson, the state’s Mr. Basketball in Division I (Ohio’s top classification), scored 23 points and added five assists to lead No. 2-ranked Senior into the finals with a 61-58 semifinal victory over Wilmington.

Senior took a 20-point lead in the first half, but Wilmington – fueled by former Michigan recruit Jarron Cumberland – cut it to three late. Simpson missed two free throws with six seconds to play and Cumberland had a chance to tie it, but Simpson forced a tough look from three that was wide left.

“I was just trying to get him to turn. He double clutched the shot. I’m glad he missed it,” Simpson said.

Simpson, meanwhile, was outstanding on the floor of Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.

“It was a valiant effort against a really good team. But when you’re down 20 and they’ve got Xavier Simpson out there, it’s tough to get the ball off him,” Wilmington Coach John Noszka said.

Simpson did win a state title as the point guard on Lima Central Catholic’s 2014 Division III champions before transferring to Lima Senior, but he’ll lament the one that got away.