Big effort by Hennings not enough against Grand View

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Austin Hennings turned in a monster performance and the Simpson men's basketball team committed just nine turnovers, but Chase Mullen and Grand View came away with a 93-86 win on Tuesday night.

Simpson held the high-scoring Grand View offense under it season average of 96 points, but struggled from the line and shot just over 40 percent from the field.

"We're getting our opportunities and we're not turning the ball over, it just baffles me," head coach Charles Zanders said. "We have to find a way to put the ball in the hole."

Hennings didn't have much problem putting the ball in the hole, finishing with a game-high 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Storm (0-3). It marked the second straight double-double for Hennings, who is averaging almost 20 points and 11 rebounds after three games.

"He's really coming into his own," Zanders said of Hennings. "He understands our system. I'm really proud of him."

Mullen scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures for the Vikings (6-1), who beat Simpson for the fourth year in a row. John Peters added 17 points, and Adebayo Babalola and Rodney Williams each had double-doubles. Babalola finished with 13 and 13 while Williams finished with 15 and 10 to go along with five assists.

Dillon Gretzky added 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc and Austin Stumbo scored 10 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double.

Simpson shot 11-for-37 from long range and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 2-1.

"I think we are good 0-3 team," Zanders said.

Simpson trailed by 11 with 14:01 left in the second half before going on a 12-3 run. Hennings scored four points during the run and Stumbo made a pair of free throws with 9:11 left to pull within 71-69.

Kerry Green silenced the rally with a layup on the next possession and Simpson couldn't get closer than four the rest of the way as Grand View won its third game in a row.

"I think we are going to win games," Zanders said. "This is just a brutal non-conference schedule."

The road doesn't get any easier as the Storm travel to the UW-Platteville Pioneer Classic this weekend. The Storm will face the host Pioneers on Saturday and Augustana (Ill.) on Sunday.