He could easily be termed his team’s secretary of defense.
Simeion Harris brings a number of talents to the court for Sandwich, but lockdown defender likely tops the list for the lightning-quick 6-foot senior guard.
He figures prominently whether the team is playing zone or man-to-man according to 6-5 senior Dom Rome, who plays a similar role on the offensive end and could be termed a point forward.
“We really rely on Simeion playing good defense and we build around him,” Rome said of Harris. “If Simeion plays good defense, we play good as a team.”
The Indians are playing very well these days and continued that trend Monday night at Plano, avenging an early season Kishwaukee River Conference loss to the Reapers with a 64-54 victory.
Rome led Sandwich (13-10, 6-2) with a double-double — a resounding 19-point, 10-rebound performance — and Harris also tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
Junior guard Griffin Somlock added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Sandwich, which started 1-7 under first-year coach Matt Chalfin, has turned it around since the calendar flipped to the new year. The Indians, who are 8-1 in 2025, kept pace in the conference race with co-leaders Woodstock (14-9, 6-2) and Johnsburg (10-11, 4-2).
“I’ve gotta credit all my seniors for whatever this turnaround is,” said Chalfin, a 2011 Sandwich graduate named to the post in September. “They stepped up to the plate. They work hard.
“Dom came up to me after one of our games early in the season and said, ‘Coach, we need to run more. We need to get conditioned to keep us going.’”
Senior guard Vinny Cesario finished with 13 points and senior guard Gabe Steele added 12 for the Reapers (11-10, 5-3).
Chalfin was familiar with Monday’s opponent after coaching the Plano freshman team last season as a member of the staff put together by coach Kyle Kee.
“Matt’s doing a great job,” Kee said. “It’s a very big leap for him. He’s a good dude. They’re going to make a run in our conference.”
Harris, also a standout in football who plans to run track at the next level, had his foot on the accelerator Monday.
He sparked an 11-3 spurt in the first three minutes of the second half with two of his steals from the point of a 1-3-1 zone. Fueled by two Rome dunks, it helped extend a nine-point halftime lead to 17.
“Unbelievable,” Chalfin said. “We had Simeion at the bottom in our 1-3-1 to start because he’s so fast. Sideline to sideline, he can close out. But when he’s at the top, he anticipates way better than any kid I’ve seen this year.
“He’d ask me every day, ‘Coach, can I be the point? Can I be the point?’ Eventually, I said, ‘Yea, do it. Go out there and create havoc.’”
Harris said the Indians had a similar turnaround last season on the way to finishing with an 18-13 record, including 10-4 in conference.
“Basketball is a team sport, and when one person thrives, we all thrive,” he said. “I like playing at the top of that zone because I get steals and tips. It fires us up and leads to easy point for those easy runs.”
Plano battled back to within seven points late behind 3-pointers and a steal and layup from Cesario, forcing Chalfin to switch to man-to-man with Harris on Cesario.
“We had to switch,” Chalfin said. “(Cesario) had a little too much space. We put ‘Sim’ on him and said, ‘Don’t let him breathe.’ If (Cesario) gets going, they can come all the way back.”
The rally didn’t surprise Harris.
“Plano has heart,” he said. “They’re never gonna quit that easy. They’re always going to fight to the end. That’s just who they are.”
