Storm erupt for season-opening victory

INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Simpson College men's basketball team used a wire-to-wire effort to defeat Faith Baptist Bible, 106-81, Tuesday, at the newly-renovated Cowles Fieldhouse.

The Storm (1-0) never trailed en route to breaking the 100-point mark for the first time since Nov. 16 of last season, also coming against the Eagles. The Storm have scored over`100 points against the Eagles in each of the last four meetings.

Newcomer Andrew Gibb provided a massive spark from the opening tip, routinely being aggressive and driving to the hoop. Gibb had 10 points by the halfway mark of the first half and 25 for the game, leading all scorers, as the Storm opened up a double-digit lead in the first eight minutes.

The Eagles played an up-tempo pace the entire game, routinely shooting threes early in the shot clock that kept the Storm lead from opening up by a larger margin in the first half. The Eagles cut the lead to six late in the first half twice, but a nice mini-run to end the half sparked by Easton Darling, who finished with 16 points, gave the Storm a 52-40 advantage to end the period.

Coming out of halftime, the Eagles hit a three to cut the lead to nine, but that was the closest the Eagles came for the rest of the game, as the Storm opened up a 20-point advantage just five minutes into the period.

From there, any time the Eagles strung together a couple baskets, the Storm answered with a few of their own, keeping a healthy lead en route to a season-opening win on the new floor of the Cowles Fieldhouse.

The Storm shot 54.1% from the field, with Gibb being a large part of that. Gibb made eight of nine shots and also made eight of 10 free throw attempts. Guard Andrew Curran led the team in minutes with 27, scoring 14 points, while Jack Hutchinson produced an extremely solid game off the Storm bench, scoring seven points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out a team-leading six assists. The Storm controlled the glass by a 51-37 margin, led by seven rebounds a piece from Gibb and Trent Williamson.

Up Next
The Storm will host two games this weekend, as well two other neutral site games. The Storm will begin their weekend at 8 p.m., Saturday, with a contest against Fontbonne, before hosting Westminster (Mo.) at 3 p.m. on Sunday.