Shooting woes doom Simpson men against Luther

DECORAH - JJ Vanderheiden scored a game-high 17 points, but league-leading Luther pulled away down the stretch in a 57-45 win against Simpson on Saturday.

The Norse (9-6, 6-0 IIAC)  got 16 points from Dane Larson and 10 from Tim Merritt, remaining the only undefeated team in Iowa Conference play.

Despite mediocre shooting performances on each side, Luther got a boost by capitalizing on Simpson miscues. The Norse scored 17 points off 15 Storm turnovers, while Simpson failed to score on 13 Luther giveaways.

Vanderheiden went 8-for-11 from the field for the Storm (6-9, 3-3 IIAC), while the rest of the team shot a combined 7-for-36.

Luther took a 22-17 lead into the locker room at halftime, but a 3-point play by Vanderheiden made the score 29-27 with just over 14 minutes left in the contest.

From there, the Norse closed the game on a 28-18 run. Simpson hung around, though, pulling within six at the 3:35 mark after John Cord and Vanderheiden hit jumpers on back-to-back possessions.

But Larson halted the momentum with a 3-pointer on the ensuing trip, giving the Norse a nine-point advantage with 3 minutes left.

Stefon Brown pulled down a team-high six rebounds and Elijah Knox accounted for three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Simpson gets only one day off before its next contest, a matchup with Buena Vista at Storm Lake on Monday, Jan. 17. The Beavers (6-9, 3-3 IIAC) dropped a 79-77 decision against Dubuque on Saturday.