Men's basketball uses big second half to beat North Central

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Charles Swain led a huge second half effort and the Simpson men's basketball team came back from a six-point, halftime deficit to beat North Central (Minn.) 69-59 on Saturday at the Northwestern ACR Homes Tip-Off Tournament.

Chad Gutschenritter scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds and Sam Amsbaugh had 11 points and nine boards as the Storm improved to 3-1, their best start since 2002.

Swain scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and Simpson used a late 13-0 run to turn a close game into a double-digit win.

It was a tale of two halves for the Storm, who shot under 30 percent from the field in the first half before shooting better than 62 percent in the second. Swain led the charge, going 5-for-7 from the field and hitting 3 of 5 from downtown in the final 20 minutes.

Simpson trailed 30-24 at halftime and found itself in a back-and-forth battle for most of the second half.

A pair of free throws gave North Central a 47-45 lead with 8:32 left, but a Cort Singleton layup tied the game at 47-all with 6:35 to play. Swain hit a 3 to give Simpson the lead and it wouldn't look back.

Swain added a lay-in on the next possession and the Storm went on to mount a 13-0 run to take a 58-47 lead with 2:40 left. Swain was the focal point of the run, scoring 13 points over the final 5:49 with two 3s.

Singleton finished with seven points and 10 rebounds to help the Storm to their best four-game start since the 2002-03 team posted the same record and won four of its first five.

Travis Voigt came off the bench to score 15 points to pace the Rams (0-4).

Up Next

Simpson goes to Oskaloosa for a non-conference tilt with William Penn on Tuesday, Nov. 25. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.