Storm come up short in home finale

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan rallied from a first-half deficit to defeat the Simpson College men's basketball team 75-66 in its home finale on Wednesday night.

Simpson (5-19, 2-13 A-R-C) forced an early timeout from the visitor bench after an 8-0 run gave the Storm an 11-5 lead with 14:42 left in the first. A layup from Tajen Ross followed by a dunk from Deontei Johnson later put the home team ahead 22-13, but Nebraska Wesleyan (14-10, 8-7 A-R-C) made it a one-point game with 10-2 run and scored the final two points of the half to trail 30-28.

The Prairie Wolves scored the go-ahead basket on their first possession of the second half as Tyler Converse scored a three and then added five more points to help Nebraska Wesleyan claim its largest lead up til that point. The senior connected on another triple at the 7:26 mark of the frame to give the visitors a double-digit lead which they would hold until the final minute of the game when Simpson got as close as seven points.

Ross scored 19 points for the Storm while adding five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Chris Honz tied his career-high of 14 rebounds and had 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the floor, and Jack Hutchinson finished with 12 points, five rebounds and an assist. Johnson did a little bit of everything with seven points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.

The Storm struggled behind the arc with just five makes in 30 attempts, while the Prairie Wolves knocked down 10 in 29 attempts. Overall, Simpson shot 41.7 percent (25-60) and Nebraska Wesleyan shot 34.9 percent (22-63).

Up Next
Simpson closes out the 2021-22 campaign with a 4 p.m. game at Central on Saturday, Feb. 19.