Valiant effort comes up just shy on Senior Day

INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Simpson College men's basketball team played rival Central to an instant classic, ending up just short of a victory on Senior Day.

Before the game, seniors Andrew Curran, Buck Eagleburger, Chris Honz, Trent Williamson, and Ben Wolgemuth were honored for their contributions to the Storm basketball program. Coming into the game, the Storm (12-12, 5-11 A-R-C) knew they had a path to sneak into the American Rivers Conference Tournament, requiring a win and some other results to go their way around the league.

As for the game, the Storm got off to a hot start, scoring 15 points in the opening five minutes to take a six-point lead after triples from Curran, Easton Darling, and Andrew Gibb. However, the league-leading Dutch (18-6, 13-3 A-R-C) also had something to play for, wanting to win the conference title outright and keep the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. As a result, the Dutch rattled off an 18-5 run, powered by sharpshooter Kade Terrell and post presences Joshua Van Gorp and Grant Johnson.

The Dutch led by eight late in the half, but the Storm closed the half strong. Williamson made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to seven, but the Dutch answered back with a long triple, before Curran drew a foul on a slick step through off-balance jump shot. Curran completed the three-point play and the Storm had the momentum going into the break down 40-37.

The Storm had a bright start to the second half, powered by Honz, who started to attack Van Gorp and Johnson inside, leading to a lot more scoring success. Honz scored all 13 of his points in the second half, including scoring the first eight Storm points, giving the Storm a slight 41-40 lead at the beginning of the period.

The plan for the Storm was to double Johnson and Van Gorp when they were in the post, forcing the other Dutch players to beat them. Van Gorp and Johnson both scored below double figures and also were held to below their averages in rebounds as well. However, Terrell continued to make big shots, making another of his five threes to put the Dutch up 54-48.

Wolgemuth nailed a three and then split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 56, before Marcus McCray hit a massive corner three after a pass from Honz on the low block, once again giving the Storm a lead at 63-61. However, the Storm could not stretch the lead out and after an offensive rebound, Terrell nailed another three to swing the advantage back to Central.

After Darling scored on a midrange jumper with three minutes to go to tie the game at 68, Terrell again came through for Central, hitting a long triple to hand the lead to the Dutch with 2:24 to go. Williamson responded with a pair of free throws coupled with Simpson getting a stop on the ensuing possession, allowing Curran to give the Storm a 72-71 lead with a patented midrange jump shot.

Central missed a three on its next possession and the officials gave Simpson the ball after it went out-of-bounds, but the inbounds pass in the backcourt was deflected by Central, leading to a foul on the Dutch's Kole Tupa, with the Storm in the double bonus. Tupa knocked in both free throws to give the Dutch a 73-72 lead with 40 seconds left.

After a timeout, Caden Rehmeier made a massive shot, pulling up for a contested jumper after an offensive rebound from Honz. Rehmeier's shot went in, giving Simpson the lead again, but in just mere seconds, Terrell drove up the court and got to the basket, laying the ball in while getting fouled. Terrell made the free throw and Darling's three to potentially win was off-target, as the Dutch grabbed the rebound with 1.4 seconds left.

Simpson was out of timeouts, but Drew Edwards missed the first free throw and then missed the second on purpose, a questionable decision no matter Simpson's timeout situation considering the Dutch were only up two, allowing Curran to grab a rebound and launch a three-quarters court shot that was agonizingly close to going in, hitting the side and back rim.

Four Storm players scored in double figures, led by Gibb's 15. Honz and Williamson led the team in rebounds, with each grabbing seven rebounds. The Storm's season ends in an instant classic that really was a shame to see either team lose due to the quality of the game.