Simon Farine

Simon Joshua Farine (born March 21, 1987) is a Canadian basketball player who currently plays for Ironi Kiryat Ata of the Israeli Super League.

Early life and high school career Farine was born in Toronto, Ontario. Playing for the powerhouse Northern Secondary School Red Knights, Farine was a three-sport star (basketball, football, and baseball). On the court, he excelled and was named the MVP of the Nike All Canada Basketball Camp in 2004, and in 2005 was named Northern Secondary School Athlete of the Year and a Toronto Star Basketball All Star.

College career

NCAA After mulling offers from Division I schools such as Davidson, Boston University, and Colgate, Farine committed to the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix to start his college career. Appearing in 27 games he averaged 1.4 ppg in limited action.

CIS

2007–08 season After one year at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Farine decided to transfer to the Dalhousie Tigers of the CIS where he felt he would be able to develop more with increased playing time. After redshirting the 06–07 season, Farine averaged 15.9 ppg, 5.0 ast, 5.8 reb, but was not satisfied by his team's overall performance.

2008–09 season He followed the 07–08 season with the best season yet in 08-09, averaging 19.1 ppg, 4.5 ast, and 5.3 reb, while shooting 43.6% from the field and 38.5% from three-point range.

2009–10 season Farine put together another big year in the 09–10 season, leading the Dalhousie Tigers by averaging 21.9 pts, 6.5 reb, and 5.5 ast. Simon had an impressive assist to turnover ratio of 3.09, and was 3rd in steals with over 2 a game. The Tigers could not repeat as AUS champions as they lost to Cape Breton in the semi-finals.

2010–11 season Going into his last season with the Tigers, Farine appeared in all 20 games and averaged 36 minutes a game. With season averages of 19.1 ppg, 6.4 reb, and 4.5 ast, he led the Dalhousie Tigers to their second AUS Championship in the last 3 years. He was named Tournament MVP, as well as the Player of the Game in the Championship game, where he scored 24 points. Farine was named a CIS All-Canadian, and First Team AUS All Star. Simon scored 1,452 regular season points over his career at Dalhousie, making him the second leading scorer in Tiger's history.

Farine struggled to get consistent playing time in his first professional season, as Haifa had numerous veteran guards ahead of him. Appearing in 16 games, he averaged 11 minutes a game, scoring 2.3 ppg.

Hapoel Tivon Megiddo Farine headed back to Israel for the 2012–2013 season. Shortly after signing with Hapoel Tivon Megiddo, Farine said “Last season I gained invaluable experience practicing and playing with some elite players in Haifa, I am excited to be going back to Israel and I am ready to make an immediate impact with Tivon Megiddo this season.”

Farine went on to start all 31 games and rank 3rd in the league in minutes per game at 35.9. While the team finished the season with a record of 8–18, Farine went on to average 15.5 pts, 4.6 reb, 3.8 ast, and 1.4 stls. Farine led Tivon-Megiddo to four wins in their final six regular season games, averaging 17.3 pts over that span.

Ironi Kiryat Ata Farine decided to continue his professional career in Israel by signing a one-year contract with Ironi Kiryat Ata of the Israeli National League. Joining a team that was aggressively chasing a promotion to Israel's first division was very attractive to Farine. After two seasons playing in Israel, Farine had his sights set on winning a league championship. Once his signing was made official he spoke about his new team saying “I am thrilled to be joining Ironi Kiryat Ata this fall, it is a great organization from top to bottom and I think we have a real shot to win it all.”

Professional career statistics †Denotes season where Farine was named an Israeli National League First Team All Star

2009 Macabbi Games Simon traveled with the Macabbi Team Canada basketball team to the 2009 Maccabiah Games (the "Jewish Olympics"), held in Israel in July 2009. Captaining a relatively inexperienced team, Farine took charge by leading the tournament in scoring. Facing the U.S. team in the semifinals, Farine and his teammates went up against a team full of professional and Division I players. Coached by former Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl, the U.S. team allowed Farine to score 31 points. The U.S. team went on to defeat Canada in the semi-finals. Losing only to Israel and the United States, Canada came away with a very respectable 3rd-place finish. Canada's Head coach John Dore spoke to the media about Farine's role to the team saying; "Simon was our best player and his game is off the charts right now. He was unbelievable against the Americans."