Comeback bid falls short in tournament championship

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - The Simpson men's basketball team mounted a furious second-half rally but couldn't complete the comeback in a 90-78 loss to host UW-Eau Claire in the championship game of the UW-Eau Claire Holiday Classic on Friday.

Jordan Petersen scored a game-high 32 points for the Blugolds (8-4), who led by as much as 19 in the second half.

Drew Bentley (Burlington, Iowa) scored a season-high 21 points coming off the bench for the Storm (4-7). Chad Boston (Des Moines, Iowa) added 13 points and, for the second game in a row, Cornelius Mosby (Chicago, Ill.) grabbed 17 rebounds to go along with 10 points.

UW-Eau Claire led 44-41 at the break and opened up a 19-point adavantage after back-to-back 3-pointers by Nick Bartlett made the score 69-50 with 7:27 left in the game.

The Storm outscored the Blugolds 21-4 over the next four minutes, pulling within 73-71 after a jumper by Bentley with 3 minutes left. After Mosby made 1 of 2 at the free throw line to make the score 78-74 with 1:25 left, Eau Claire took the wind out of Simpson's sails with a 6-0 run that ended the comeback bid.

Simpson returns to action Wednesday, Jan. 4 when it travels to Cedar Rapids for an Iowa Conference matchup with Coe at Eby Fieldhouse. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.