Lee Nelson scored the first five points of the second half for the Knights to give Wartburg a 39-30 lead. Back-to-back three-point plays by Jason Soppe and Brett Cermak cut the lead to three for Wartburg. After a pair of Nelson misses, Jason Parkinson tied the game with a three-pointer at the 17:16 mark. Ryan Hittenmiller put the Storm up 42-39 with a three-pointer of his own a short time later. The Storm would push the lead to six before Wartburg came back to take a 51-50 lead on a Jarrett Williams three-pointer with a little under 11 minutes remaining.
Simpson would take the lead for good when Hittenmiller sank another three ball to make it 52-51 49 seconds later. Hittenmiller would score the next four Simpson points to give the Storm a five-point lead. Wartburg would get as close as three (58-55) down the stretch, but the Storm would go onto a eight-point victory.
Hittenmiller led all scorers with 22 points. He also led the Storm with 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Parkinson scored 13 and had five assists. Cermak, the Simpson point guard, scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out five assits, and made four steals. Nelson led Wartburg with 20 points. Nick Gullickson scored 10 points and had 15 rebounds for the Knights who attempted 45 three-point field goals. Wartburg was 14-of-45 (31.1%) from three-point range. The Knights shot 23-of-69 (33.3%) from the field for the game. The victory for the Storm was the first by Simpson over Wartburg since the 2002-03 season (a span of 10 games) and the first by Simpson over the Knights in Indianola since the 1997-98 season (102-93).
Simpson is at Luther Friday night for an 8 p.m. tipoff in Decorah.
At Indianola, IA (Cowles Fieldhouse) SIMPSON COLLEGE 72, WARTBURG COLLEGE 64 WARTBURG COLLEGE (6-7, 0-4 IIAC) NELSON, Lee 6-18 3-4 20; GULLICKSON, Nick 4-13 0-0 10; STARK, Danny 3-6 0-1 8; WEAVER, Allen 2-4 1-2 7; WILLIAMS, Jarrett 2-7 0-0 6; MENKE, James 2-11 0-0 5; KRAMER, Nick 2-2 0-0 4; SCHMITT, Brad 1-1 0-0 2; VOGEL, Ben 1-5 0-0 2; JACKSON, Mike 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-69 4-7 64. SIMPSON COLLEGE (8-5, 1-3 IIAC) HITTENMILLER, Ryan 6-11 9-11 22; PARKINSON, Jason 4-11 4-6 13; CERMAK, Brett 3-7 1-1 8; SOPPE, Jason 1-4 4-5 6; FEREZY, David 3-8 0-0 6; TUBAUGH, Brennen 2-4 2-2 6; DAU, Andrew 2-2 0-0 4; HAWKINS, Lyndon 1-1 2-4 4; DUNLAVY, Tim 1-2 1-4 3; TRAVIS, Jeff 0-4 0-2 0. Totals 23-54 23-35 72. Wartburg College.............. 34 30 - 64 Simpson College............... 30 42 - 72 3-point goals-Wartburg College 14-45 (NELSON, Lee 5-15; STARK, Danny 2-2; WILLIAMS, Jarrett 2-6; WEAVER, Allen 2-3; GULLICKSON, Nick 2-7; MENKE, James 1-6; JACKSON, Mike 0-2; VOGEL, Ben 0-4), Simpson College 3-12 (PARKINSON, Jason 1-6; CERMAK, Brett 1-1; HITTENMILLER, Ryan 1-2; TRAVIS, Jeff 0-3). Fouled out--Wartburg College-None, Simpson College-None. Rebounds-Wartburg College 41 (GULLICKSON, Nick 15), Simpson College 46 (HITTENMILLER, Ryan 11). Assists-Wartburg College 18 (GULLICKSON, Nick 3; MENKE, James 3; VOGEL, Ben 3; JACKSON, Mike 3), Simpson College 14 (CERMAK, Brett 5; PARKINSON, Jason 5). Total fouls-Wartburg College 24, Simpson College 12.