Late Storm surge disposes of Fontbonne

INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Simpson College men's basketball team was down nine in the second half, but closed on a 23-10 run to defeat Fontbonne, 73-69, at Cowles Fieldhouse on Saturday.

The Storm (2-0) enacted a slight bit of revenge over the Griffins (0-1), after dropping a close contest last year. The victory spells out the potential of the team, with the Griffins being the defending regular season champion of their conference.

The game was a stark contrast of halves, with the first half being a more defensive slugfest, nothing like the opening win over Faith Baptist Bible. The Storm did a great job of limiting most of the dangerous players for Fontbonne. Drew Cromer scored the first seven points for the Griffins, but then went scoreless the rest of the game.

The period was extremely tight throughout, with numerous ties and lead changes, as Simpson held the largest lead at 9-4. A Chris Honz layup with 90 seconds to go in the half gave the Storm a 29-27 lead going into the break.

If the first period was defensive, the second period was anything but. Fontbonne matched their first half total of 27 points by the 10 minute mark of the second half, as one could sense they were a run away from seizing control of the game, finally sparked by the Griffins' Caden Clark. While the Storm did a good job the entire game defending key players Elijah Rice and Brent Wagner, Clark was a thorn in the side of the Storm, scoring 23 points in the second half and led all scorers overall with 27.

With Clark taking over, the Storm needed a response down 59-50 with 7:19 to go. From there, it was all Simpson, starting with a massive three pointer from Buck Eagleburger to cut the lead to 59-55 after a pair of split free throw trips. Andrew Gibb, who once again turned in a great performance, cut it to three, 60-57, with free throws of his own. Gibb led all Storm scorers with 19 points, making all eight of his free throw attempts.

Up step Andrew Curran and Chris Honz. Beginning with Curran, the senior guard scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half, including 10 in the final five minutes. Down 62-59 with 4:25 to go, Curran rose and nailed a three to put Simpson level. Despite Rice scoring on the next possession, the Storm defense came up clutch, allowing no points over the next two minutes and tying the game off two free throws from Honz. Rice missed the front end of a one-and-one for the Griffins, with Honz coming down the other end and putting the Storm in the lead, 66-64, which they would not relinquish.

Clark's explosiveness got him to the hoop again on the next possession, but missed a layup which the Storm rebounded. Curran then made a massive pull-up three with under a minute to go to put the Storm up five. The Griffins once again turned to Clark, making a three to cut the lead back to two with 44 seconds to go.

Out of a timeout, Honz made a great move inside to get a light hook shot to go, giving the Storm a crucial four-point lead with 15 seconds to go. Clark tried to answer, but his shot missed and was rebounded by Curran, who sunk both free throws to ice the game.

While neither team shot the ball particularly well, a massive difference was at the free throw line. Fontbonne barely made half of theirs (8-of-15), while the Storm once again shot well from the charity stripe, going 19-of-26 for a 73.1% mark. Four Storm players scored in double figures. Gibb led the team with 19, Curran had 16, Honz poured in 13, and Easton Darling added 11 despite playing in foul trouble most of the game. For the second straight game, Gibb led the team in rebounding as well, with him and Eagleburger both grabbing six. Eagleburger also led the team in assists with five, led in minutes played with 34, and hit the massive three-pointer that sparked the 23-10 game-winning run for the Storm.

Up Next
The Storm have no time to rest, as they are back in action tomorrow for the second of two games at home against Westminster at 3 p.m.