Simpson men fall to Spartans in dire situation

by Billy Weathers and Zach James

A bittersweet mood loomed in Cowles Field House on Wednesday as Simpson’s seniors laced up for their last home game.

It was a must-win for the Storm to keep their season afloat, but the Dubuque Spartans sunk the Storm ship in a 76-56 loss.

“This sucks,” said senior Elijah Knox. “There aren’t too many positives to take away from this season, it hurts.”

After starting lights out from the filed the Storm give up a 13-0 run to the Spartans making the score 18-11 with 10 minutes left.

After shooting only 24 percent from the field they were able to close the halftime deficit down to 11 as they headed into half with the score 35-26.

Sophomore Charles Swain lead the way with 11 first half points on 3 of 6 shooting.

The Storm’s bench was outscored 21 to 2 in the first half. Simpson has been struggling to get consistent bench play all season, and it seemed to hinder them again early.

Back to back three-point buckets from Austin Hennings ignites the Storm with 12 left in the second half with them down eight.

Turnovers and questionable passes hurt the Storm late as they trailed by eight with 8:26 left in the game.

The hot shooting of the Spartans proved to be to much as the Storm fell at home on senior night 76 to 56.

The Storm’s bench was outscored 43-11 in the game.

“It hurts,” said senior Olu Rotibi. “It’s a very bitter feeling, but I thank everyone of my brothers for playing their heart out.”

Not all is lost, however. Simpson still can find themselves in the Iowa Conference Tournament by winning Saturday and hoping the Spartans defeats Loras in the Dubuque in-town rivalry.

Simpson makes the skip to Pella for their regular-season finale taking on the Central Dutch on Saturday.

“It’s a pride game on Saturday,” said head coach Charles Zanders. “Nobody wants to finish last, so we are going to see how much heart our team has.”