Fouch 3-pointer leads men's basketball over Dubuque

INDIANOLA - Matt Fouch hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds, Seth Hutcheson recorded his first-career double-double and Simpson beat Dubuque, 82-75 in the conference opener Wendesday night at Cowles Fieldhouse.

Trailing 75-73 with under two minutes left in the game, Fouch got free in the left corner and knocked down his third three of the game. The Storm (2-3, 1-0 IIAC) held Dubuque scoreless the rest of the way, picking up their first win in an Iowa Conference opener since 2005.

Fouch finished with 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting, leading a dominating performance by the Simpson bench. The Storm reserves outscored Dubuque's, 40-8.

Only five games into his Simpson career, Hutcheson - an Indianola native - scored a team-high 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The reining Iowa Conference scoring champion, Taylor Blum, poured in a game-high 29 points for the Spartans (2-3, 0-1 IIAC), who saw a six-game winning streak against the Storm come to an end.

Simpson trailed by as much as eight in the first half, but got a big spark off the bench from freshman Eric Lande. In 10 minutes of play, Lande went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, scoring all 10 of his points in the period.

The Storm led most of the second half before a David Kushnir layup gave Dubuque a 68-67 lead with 5:11 remaining. The Spartans took a three-point lead after a pair of free throws by Blum made the score 72-69 with 3:50 to go.

Stefon Brown converted a driving layup to pull within one, and JJ Vanderheiden tied the affair at 73 with a strong post move at the 2:12 mark.

Matt Poirer gave Dubuque a two-point edge with a jumper before Fouch gave Simpson the lead for good.

Point guard Elijah Knox scored 13 points, handed out four assists and brought the crowd to its feet when he ended the first half with a three-quarter court heave that kissed off the glass and in. Rob King came off the bench to score 10 points and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line on a night when the Storm struggled from the charity stripe.

Simpson shot 54.8 percent from the line, but watched Dubuque make good on only 55.3 percent of its attempts. The two teams were whistled for a combined 56 fouls.

The Storm hit the road on Saturday when they travel to Cedar Rapids for a matchup with Coe. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.