Hot-shooting Nebraska Wesleyan tops Storm

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Trevor Johnson scored 22 points and Nebraska Wesleyan shot nearly 55 percent from the field in a 74-64 win over the Simpson men's basketball team on New Year's Eve.

Charles Swain scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Storm (1-9), who never led despite staying within striking distance throughout the game.

Johnson added eight rebounds for the visiting Prairie Wolves (8-3), who won for the third time in four tries. 

Nebraska Wesleyan went 18-for-31 from the field in the first half and finished the game shooting a stingy 54.7 percent. Simpson shot a respectable 43.6 percent from the field but couldn't keep pace with the Prairie Wolves.

Johnson started an 8-0 run midway through the first half that Nebraska Wesleyan used to go on a 15-4 spurt. A 3-point play by Johnson and a layup by Trent Scheitel gave the Prairie Wolves their largest lead of the game, 34-18 with 4:52 left in the first.

Simpson trailed 40-28 at the half but opened on a 6-2 run to pull within 42-34 with 17:39 left. A 3-pointer by Jona Bradley and back-to-back buckets by Eric Jackson pushed the lead back to 15 and Simpson couldn't pull closer than nine the rest of the way.

Austin Hennings finished wtih 13 points and five rebounds, Dillon Gretzky added 12 points and Chad Gutschenritter had 11 for the Storm.

Simpson opens the 2014 portion of the schedule on Saturday, Jan. 4 when it hosts AIB in non-conference action. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at Cowles Fieldhouse.