Kohawks drop Storm on Senior Day, 75-60

by Seth Hale

After getting the win on the road against Wartburg (11-12, 5-7 Iowa Conference) on Feb. 11, the
Simpson men’s basketball team (4-19, 2-10 Iowa Conference) could not match that same energy
to the game against Coe (11-12, 3-9 Iowa Conference) Feb. 15 in Cowles Fieldhouse.
 
The Kohawks defeated the Storm, 75-60.
 
 
The first half was an evenly matched 20 minutes of play as the Storm were down by a manageable six points at the break, 28-34. Both teams shot 48 percent from the field and were below 57 percent from the charity stripe before heading to the locker room.
 
The second half provided altered results as the Kohawks shot a blazing 61.5 percent from the
field compared to Simpson’s 39 percent. An aggressive effort and quality defense was not the issue this time around for Simpson as it has been in the past – the shots simply fell in favor of four main Coe sharpshooters. Only six players scored for the Kohawks in its 75-point effort. The starters shot a combined 28-of-45 from the field with the team shooting 29-of-53 in the game.
 
Senior guard Andrew Wirth led the Kohawks with a game-high 24 points, shooting 6-of-9 on 3- point attempts.
 
Simpson junior guard Charles Swain came off the bench for the Storm to provide one-third of the
scoring with 20 points. Sophomores Tyler Anderson and Leif Olson also came off the bench to score 10 and nine points respectively. Simpson outscored Coe when it came to bench points, 48 to 4.
 
The three Simpson seniors – Austin Hennings, Eric Lande and Ryan Olson – saw a combined 31
minutes of playing time and provided only eight points and two rebounds in that time. Coe grabbed 38 total rebounds to the 18 pulled in by Simpson. Despite forcing Coe to turn the ball over 16 times and getting 21 points from turnovers, the Storm couldn’t find a groove to capitalize on its final home game of the 2013-14 season.
 

Freshman guard Austin Turner has provided quality performances from the point with sophomore guard Chad Gutschenritter in street clothes for the remainder of the season. Turner saw 33 minutes of play and while he only scored four points, he owned up to his responsibility to take care of the ball with zero turnovers on the night.

 

Simpson looks to close the season out on a positive note as they travel to Storm Lake, Iowa to take on Buena Vista (11-12, 6-6 Iowa Conference) for its last game of the regular season. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.