Prairie Wolves Survive Storm Comeback

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Simpson College men's basketball team mounted a late comeback and nearly overcame a double-digit deficit, but the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves were able to hold on down the stretch to hand the Storm a 77-73 loss on Monday night.

Simpson (4-13, 1-7 A-R-C) sprinted out to an 11-2 lead in the first 2:25 of the game as the Storm cashed in all four of their opening possessions. Buck Eagleburger kicked things off with a three-point play, Chris Honz followed with a dunk, and Caden Rehmeier and Jack Hutchinson each hit from distance to prompt an early timeout from the Prairie Wolf bench.

After Nebraska Wesleyan (10-7, 4-4 A-R-C) evened things up with a run of its own, the two teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half until Simpson eventually took a 38-36 lead into the locker room. The Storm used a late 12-4 run to turn a four point deficit into a four point lead, but the Prairie Wolves' lead-scorer Peter Lash converted a layup as time expired to trim the margin to two at half.

Picking up right where he left off in the first half, Lash hit back-to-back triples to ignite a big run that pushed Nebraska Wesleyan ahead by 10 at the 12:05 mark of the second period. Six points from Tajen Ross and a pair of free throws from Deontei Johnson helped pull Simpson back within four, but a 10-4 run within a span of two minutes gave the Storm even more hope as they cut the deficit to 70-68 with 2:08 left. The comeback push was fueled by 6-of-6 shooting at the line and had a couple of big steals from Ross and Rehmeier.

Nebraska Wesleyan was able to gain a five-point advantage with 45 ticks left on the clock, but the Storm weren't done quite yet as Ross drained a deep three to place the game at 75-73 with 10 seconds left. A quick foul out of a Simpson timeout sent Lash to the free throw line, and after missing his first attempt, the Storm took over with high hopes to send the game into overtime. A turnover on the ensuing inbound pass quickly put an end to the comeback, though, as the Prairie Wolves regained possession under their hoop and were able to finish out the game at the line.

Ross finished with a game-high 24 points for his second 20-point performance in as many games for the Storm. He went 8-of-18 from the field and 6-of-6 at the line while also leading the team with five rebounds and two steals. Hutchinson finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists, while Honz contributed 10 points, four rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal.

The Storm were 41.9 percent efficient from the floor and shot a season-high 93.8 percent at the stripe with 15 makes in 16 attempts.

Up Next
Simpson returns home for another A-R-C clash with Loras on Jan. 26. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Cowles Fieldhouse.