Storm unable to dig out of early hole

WAVERLY, Iowa – The Simpson College men's basketball team was unable to crawl out of an early hole and fell 81-67 to the second-place team in American Rivers Conference standings on Saturday. 

The Storm (4-15, 1-9 A-R-C) found themselves in trouble early as the Knights (15-4, 8-2 A-R-C) followed Chris Honz' game-opening layup with a 20-1 run over the next six and a half minutes. Andrew Curran ended Simpson's scoring drought with a triple and the Storm added three more as part of a 20-12 run that brought the team within single-digits of their hosts, but Wartburg shut the door on the momentum and took a 44-27 lead at half.

Another big run by the Knights to start the second had Simpson trailing by 27 points at the 14:02 mark. The Storm outscored Wartburg 33-20 the rest of the way to set the final margin at 14 points. Five different players knocked down a triple during the stretch as the Storm finished the game with 11 trifectas, the most against a conference opponent this season.

Tajen Ross paced the team with 17 points and three steals, Curran had 11 points, and 11 others scored a point for the Storm. Deontei Johnson led the rebounding effort with five and Jack Hutchinson handed out a team-high four assists.

Up Next
Simpson lines up against Luther in back-to-back games beginning with a 7:30 p.m. contest on Monday, Jan. 31. The Storm will then host the Norse on Saturday at 4 p.m. following a bye on Wednesday evening.