Late second half surge sends Simpson to sixth straight win

INDIANOLA, Iowa - Using a 23-14 run over the final seven minutes, the Simpson College men's basketball team defeated Luther, 85-72, to earn its sixth straight win.

The Storm (11-2, 4-1 A-R-C) were locked in a tight battle with the Norse (3-11, 0-6 A-R-C) most of the game, as Luther was desperate looking for its first conference win. The Storm started brightly, scoring on their first three offensive possessions, but the Norse settled in and the two teams traded buckets for the first five minutes. The Storm, leading 7-6, then embarked on a 16-6 run sparked by Caden McGuire and Caden Rehmeier off the bench. McGuire knocked in a pair of free throws and a jumper while Rehmeier nailed two triples.

The Norse responded with its own 15-2 run to take the lead back though, including center Ben Gill making a pair of layups. The Storm regained the lead from an Andrew Gibb layup and took a four-point lead after a silky inside move from Chris Honz, but Luther's Randall Days made a tough, off-balance three-pointer in the corner at the end of the half to give Luther a 39-38 lead going into the halftime break.

The second half began like the first, with both teams going basket for basket, unable to stretch the lead by more than one possession. The first pivotal sequence for the Storm occurred when up 50-49. Honz was left open on the perimeter and the Storm center made the Norse defense pay for not tracking him out there, swishing a three to put the Storm up four. Two possessions later, with the score the same, Honz made a brilliant pass out of the low block to find Trent Williamson in the corner, who drilled a triple to give the Storm a 56-49 lead.

Easton Darling stretched the lead to 10 with two jump shots, but the Norse would not go away, with Andrew Lazinbat converting a three-point play to cut the Storm lead to 66-63. Lazinbat led the Norse with 18 points on an efficient shooting night. Rehmeier then made two more critical three-pointers, one to put the Storm up 69-63, and the other to put the team up 72-65. Rehmeier, who finished with a season-high 16 points, also made a layup on the next Storm possession, scoring eight in a row.

From there, the Storm forced multiple missed shots and grabbed massive rebounds, limiting Luther's second-shot opportunities. Darling scored another six to add to his game-high 23 points in the final two minutes to help close out the Norse, sending the Storm to a six-game winning streak.

Darling scored his aforementioned game-high 23 points despite not making a three-pointer, instead doing almost all of his damage from the midrange and in the paint. Honz, who gave up around five inches of height to the 6'11 Gill, had one of his best games of the season, making seven of his nine shot attempts to finish with 17 points and nine rebounds. Andrew Curran scored 10 points to join Darling, Honz, and Rehmeier in double figures. Gibb led the team in rebounds with 10 and Curran dished out a game-high four assists.

The Storm shot a blistering 56.1 percent from the field, while also making six of their seven free-throw attempts to continue their conference lead in that area. The Storm outrebounded the Norse 19-12 in the second half, with Honz and Gibb routinely grabbing huge rebounds. Despite the Norse having the height advantage inside, the Storm doubled the Norse up inside, outscoring them 48-24 in the paint.

Up Next
The Storm continue their home stretch by hosting Nebraska Wesleyan, Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m.