Photo by Jay W. Bennett Southern’s Chase Bailey is awarded free throws after being fouled by Waterford’s Jacob Huffman (24) during the Wildcats’ 53-47 triumph Tuesday night at Harry Cooper Annex.

WATERFORD — An 11-0 spurt in the third quarter along with a balanced scoring effort led by Luke Teters’ game-high 15 points allowed host Waterford to fend off Southern, 53-47, here Tuesday night inside Harry Cooper Annex and give Wildcat head coach Tom Simms career win 200.

Southern led 29-27 early in the third after an inside bucket by Lincoln Rose, who paced the 0-3 Tornadoes of head man Jeff Caldwell with 13 points and eight rebounds. However, a putback by Wade Smith tied it and Grant McCutcheon’s 14-foot baseline swish at the 5:42 mark gave the ‘Cats the lead for good. Teters and Gaibe Ponchak added field goals before Jude Huffman drained a 3 to make it 38-29.

An Arrow Drummer deuce closed Southern, which plays Friday at Trimble, to within seven entering the fourth, but the hosts led by 11 with 3:21 to go following a Jacob Huffman three-point play. Despite getting a triple from Cade Anderson and two more by Aiden Hill, the visitors failed to make it a one-possession affair. Chase Bailey’s steal and layup with 2:50 remaining for part of his eight points made it 45-41, but the Wildcats answered with baskets by Smith and Jacob Huffman, who had 10 points, five boards and a game-high four steals.

“I told them before the game the defense is what’s going to carry us and make our offense go,” admitted coach Simms of his now 2-0 squad, which returns to action Friday at rival Fort Frye. “We haven’t played. We don’t have chemistry. You can’t replace floor time against opponents to mature and get chemistry, but also taking game shots. You can do all the shooting you want. Hank Morus told me years ago. Coach Morus said to me you can do all the shooting you want, but when you get in the game you have to have them with their legs ready to go and knock down shots. You can’t replace that and I never forgot that.”

Smith knocked down 7 of 9 from the charity stripe and finished with 13 points. He joined Jude Huffman, who had 11 markers and a game-high three blocks, with a team-high six rebounds.

“Those two guards started knocking down 3s,” Simms said of Southern’s rally.

“They were stroking it and I told them to high hand them, but they kept going deeper. That’s Southern basketball. They played hard. They pressure you and we just had to keep our composure.”

Anderson had a game-high six assists in the setback. Waterford, which played without the services of Holden Dailey, got a soft slam from Teters inside the final minute of regulation.

“I’ve told them forever I don’t know what my record is and I didn’t know this was 200,” coach Simms said of his milestone. “I really don’t pay attention to that and I never have. It doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s about them and about them being accomplished and I’m just here to have fun with them. It’s just one of those things.

“You’ve been around long enough you should hopefully get some wins. I’ve been very fortunate over the years. I’ve had a lot of good guys who have played for me and we go clear back to 40 years ago when I coached JV those first few years. I had good guys around and now their dads and kids are playing. It’s a great experience to be with them. The records don’t do a lot for me, but it’s a nice place to get to.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com