Dutch shoot past Storm in season finale

PELLA, Iowa – The Simpson College men's basketball team fell 89-73 to Central on Saturday afternoon as both teams took the floor for the final time in 2021-22.

The Storm (5-20, 2-14 A-R-C) sank 11 3-pointers and gave up a season-low nine turnovers, but were unable to match a hot shooting performance by their hosts as Central (7-17, 4-12 A-R-C) went 33-for-54 from the floor, 8-for-19 from deep, and 15-for-17 at the free throw line.

A triple from Rhett Darland at the 9:05 point of the first half made it a four-point game before the home team ran away, taking a 43-25 advantage into the locker room and leading by as many as 24 on two occasions in the second half. Simpson pulled within a dozen following a late 16-4 run, but the Dutch regrouped and finished out the game with a pair of layups and 5 of 7 shooting at the line.

Tajen Ross was the lone player to reach double figure scoring for the Storm as he finished with 24 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the floor. The junior from Adel, Iowa scored 15 or more points in all 10 of the games he played, averaging 20.8 points to rank third on the team with 208 points.

Andrew Curran added nine points to his season total as he finished his junior campaign with 266 points. Darland scored a career-high nine points thanks to three trifectas, and Chris Honz chipped in seven points and six rebounds.