Storm men suffer home setback

INDIANOLA, Iowa – In a tightly-contested game that was tied on nine occasions and saw five lead changes, the Simpson College men's basketball team fell 75-66 to Central.

Deontei Johnson had a career-high 18 points (7-10 FG), three assists, three rebounds and two steals for the Storm, while Chris Honz brought down a team-high eight rebounds and extended his streak of games with double figure scoring to seven with 16 points.

Jack Hutchinson had 13 points, four assists, two steals and a rebound, and Caden Rehmeier finished with 10 points, three rebounds and a takeaway.

Simpson (4-11, 1-5 A-R-C) used a 10-0 run to claim a five point advantage at 47-42 before Central (4-12, 1-7 A-R-C) scored eight straight to regain the lead and momentum heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. With 3:12 left, the Storm had pulled within four, 67-63, with Honz' second dunk of the night, but the Dutch didn't allow the home team to get any closer as their lead-scorer Josh Van Gorp added a pair of insurance baskets shortly after to put the game out of reach.

In the first half, the Storm trailed 13-8 before flipping the script to lead by six on two occasions. Buck Eagleburger assisted Marcus McCray on a pair of layups to ignite Simpson's rally while the freshman duo of Hutchinson and Rehmeier later knocked down back-to-back triples to place the game at 27-21 before the eventual 31-31 tie at intermission.

Both teams struggled behind the arc as Simpson made just four three-pointers and Central was limited to three. Overall, the Dutch shot 53.7 percent compared to the Storm's 39.1 percent and posted a 42-31 advantage in rebounding.

Up Next
The Storm remain at home to host Coe on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Cowles Fieldhouse. Simpson picked up a 74-64 win over the Kohawks earlier this season in Cedar Rapids.