Poor shooting plagues Storm in loss to Cornell

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Despite holding a nine-point advantage in the first half, the Simpson College men's basketball team couldn't overcome a poor shooting night as the Storm fell 64-51 in Monday's nonconference action against Cornell.

The Storm (4-5) shot a season-low 30.6 percent from the field, while Cornell (8-4) shot 41.2 percent from the floor. Both teams struggled behind the three-point line as the Storm made just 18.5 percent of their long-range attempts and the Rams shot 14.3 percent from deep. The visitors won the battle of the boards 50-37 and outscored the Storm 44-26 in the paint.

Caden Rehmeier scored 16 points off the bench to lead the Storm in scoring on the night. He tallied 10 points in the opening frame including eight during a 16-1 run that gave Simpson its largest lead of the game at 28-19 with 4:44 left in the first half.

After trailing by one at the break, six points from Chris Honz and a free throw by Andrew Curran helped the Storm regain the lead at 37-35 with 14:21 remaining. The Rams would then hold the home team to just two baskets over the next nine and a half minutes while scoring 23 points on their end to put the game away for good.

Along with Rehmeier, Curran and Honz hit double figure scoring with 10 points apiece. Honz and Buck Eagleburger had seven rebounds each, while Rehmeier pitched in six and Deontei Johnson hauled in five. Curran dished out a game-high five assists.

Up Next
The Storm travel to Nashville, Tenn. for the Music City Classic where they will play a pair of non-conference games. Simpson will face Carroll on Dec. 29 and Tufts on Dec. 30.