Storm pick up first conference win of season

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Using an electric offensive display from Easton Darling combined with lockdown defense propelled the Simpson men's basketball team to its first win in American Rivers Conference play, defeating Coe, 74-63, Saturday, at Cowles Fieldhouse. 

The Storm (6-2, 1-1 A-R-C) started off strong, taking an early lead at 11-5, but the momentum turned after the refs ruled a bucket by Chris Honz off, and the Kohawks (4-4, 1-2 A-R-C) embarked on a 22-4 run to take a 27-15 lead. However, the Storm responded with a 10-point run of its own, cutting the lead to two and only trailing by three at the half, 33-30. 

The second half started much like the first, with Andrew Curran and Easton Darling nailing three-pointers to give the Storm its first lead since the early stages of the game. After the Kohawks tied it back up, the Storm went on an 18-7 run to take a 54-41 run. During the run, Darling erupted, hitting 3 three-pointers and scoring 14 straight points by himself for the Storm. Darling finished with six three-pointers and 26 points to lead all scorers, with 17 in the second half. 

The Kohawks hung around, cutting the lead with mini runs every couple of minutes, despite a tremendous defensive job by the Storm on the main sources of the Coe offense. Cael Schmitt and TJ Schnurr came in averaging over 32 points a game combined, but the Storm held them to 21 combined, with the duo only making nine of their 27 field goal attempts. 

Darling made a massive three to give the Storm a 57-45 lead, but the Kohawks went on a 6-0 run before Caden McGuire made potentially the biggest shot of the night, draining a three from the right wing after a massive offensive rebound from Andrew Gibb. The shot gave the Storm a nine-point lead with six minutes to go. 

Again, the Kohawks responded, with Schmitt forcing a steal that led to a layup and then assisting a made basket to Greg Hall, cutting the Storm lead to 64-61 with 2:37 to go. Gibb drew a foul and calmly sunk two free throws and after the Storm missed a one and one on the next possession, hit a turnaround jumper to give the Storm an insurmountable 68-61 lead with just over 90 seconds left. Curran made another four free throws as the Kohawks fouled out of desperation, giving the Storm a 74-63 victory. 

Led by Darling, the Storm had one of their more efficient nights on the year, shooting 46.4% from the field, 42.1% from beyond the arc, and 87.5% from the charity stripe. The Storm limited the Kohawks to just 40% from the field and only 15.8% from the three-point line. Curran finished with 15 points and Gibb added 14. Gibb also grabbed eight rebounds to tie for the game-high with his teammate Honz. 

Up Next

The Storm have the week off of game action, with the next game being a tough road test at Wartburg next Saturday.