PINEVILLE —The Mountain Lions completed the 2012-13 season with a record of 18-11 and three of their seniors were honored on Monday for reaching milestones during the year.
Center John Simpson and forward Byron David Asher both reached the 1,000 career point mark during the season while point guard Seth Jeffrey finished ranked number one in the state in free throw shooting percentage. In addition, Simpson was third in the state in field goal percentage.
Asher and Simpson were presented with game balls commemorating their scoring achievement while Jeffrey received a plaque for his.
Simpson got his 1,000th point back on Dec. 14 during a game against Middlesboro. He finished his career with a total of 1, 336.
Asher scored his 1,000th career point against Knox Central in the 51st District Tournament on Feb. 19 and finished with 1,002.
Jeffrey hit 68 of his 76 free throw attempts during his senior season for a percentage of 89.5. That mark lead the state in free throw percentage, according to KHSAA statistics.
Simpson also finished third in the state in field goal percentage. He made 182 of 269 attempts for a 67.7 percent mark.
“Both of those numbers are outstanding figures,” Pineville coach J.D. Strange said. “All of our seniors: John, Byron, Seth, Philly (Jared Philpot), and Jacob (Skinner) are great quality kids and very coachable. They always gave effort and their attitude was always tremendous. That’s a by-product of the coaching profession, every once in a while you get the opportunity to be around such quality people.”
The group of seniors were all also the starters for the Mountain Lions in 2011-12 when Pineville reached the semifinals of the 13th Region Tournament.
Also announced this week, Simpson and Asher have been named first team all-region by the 13th Region Boys Basketball Coaches Association and Jeffrey made the second team. Simpson, Jeffrey and Philpot made the All-Region Academic Team by maintaining a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.









