LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Wesleyan used a 10-2 run in the final 1:58 of the game to earn a 94-85 victory over Simpson College in the Iowa Conference men's basketball opener on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 2) at Snyder Arena. 
 
With the victory, NWU remains undefeated at 5-0 overall and starts the conference season at 1-0.  The Storm fall to 2-5 and 0-2 in IIAC play.
 
Simpson forward Tyler Stumbo made a layup with 1:58 remaining to make the score 84-83 in favor of the Prairie Wolves.  NWU came down the court and got a made field goal from Jack Hiller.  On Simpson's possession, they missed two shot attempts giving the ball back to NWU.  Hiller responded once again by nailing a 3-pointer to put the Prairie Wolves back up by six poins.
 
After a pair of Storm free throws cut the lead to four with 35 seconds left, Nate Bahe found Deion Wells-Ross for a layup, then NWU was able to seal the win as Bahe got a defensive rebound and sent a lead pass to Ryan Garver who made a layup and was intentionally fouled on the play.
 
The Prairie Wolves came out of the gates quick in the conference home opener jumping ahead 12-3 with just over three minutes gone in the game.  They got the lead up to 10 points with six minutes gone forcing Simpson to use two timeouts.
 
From there, Simpson went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to one point but the Storm were never able to lead the entire game.  Nebraska Wesleyan took a 43-31 lead into halftime led by Bahe's 13 first half points.
 
Simpson shot the ball at a very high rate in the second half, mainly behind the play of Tyler Stumbo.  NWU held strong and maintained the double digit lead the first ten minutes of the half then Simpson made a run.  Stumbo scored six of the next nine points to cut the NWU lead to two points with 8:36 to play.
 
Three times in the final eight minutes the Storm cut the lead to one point, but each time the Prairie Wolves responded.  Twice it was Wells-Ross that scored to put NWU back ahead by three points.
 
The Prairie Wolves finished the game shooting 54.8 percent from the field, hitting 12-29 from long range.  NWU was also a very efficient 14-16 at the free throw line.
 
Five players scored in double figures for Nebraska Wesleyan's balanced offensive attack.  Deion Wells-Ross had a complete game, leading the way with 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.
 
Jack Hiller broke out of his shooting slump to go 4-6 from 3-point range and finish the game with 16 points and six rebounds.  Nate Bahe scored 15 points on the night and dished out six assists.
 
Two players came off the bench to score in double figures.  Dylan Dirks made three 3-pointers to score 13 points, while Kasey Conklin got a career-high 13 points in 11 minutes of playing time.
 
Tyler Stumbo had a career-high 33 points with eight rebounds to pace the Storm.  Stumbo was 10-17 from the field and 13-15 at the free throw line.  Three other players were in double figures for Simpson as they shot 51.7 percent from the field.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan will step out of conference on Monday night to renew the old rivalry with Doane University.  Tip-off between the Prairie Wolves and Tigers is set for 8 pm at Snyder Arena in the 199^th meeting between the two teams.