LINCOLN, Neb. – Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time in over a month, the 10^th-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves took care of business early in an 86-64 victory over Simpson College on Wednesday night (Jan. 8) in American Rivers Conference action at Snyder Arena.
 
NWU (12-2, 5-0) starts their three-game homestand with a victory, holding the Storm nearly 30 points under their season scoring average.
 
The Prairie Wolves got out to a 10-3 lead to start the game and got up by as many as 13 points in the first half.  NWU took a 39-28 lead into the halftime locker room.
 
To start the second half, the Prairie Wolves scored the first 13 points to build the lead up to 24 points and from their they set the cruise control to remain undefeated in conference play and unbeaten at home.
 
Simpson went nearly five minutes to start the second half before they got their first basket.  Coming into the game, the Storm were averaging over 91 points a game and had three of the top eight scorers in the American Rivers Conference.
 
Their high scoring offense was silenced by the Prairie Wolves zone defense and full court pressure.  Only one Simpson player was able to reach double figures in scoring.
 
On the Prairie Wolves offensive side of the court, once again they were efficient sharing the basketball and knocking down open shots.  As a team, NWU shot 56.9 percent from the field, hitting over 60 percent in the second half.  The Prairie Wolves had 20 assists and out rebounded the Storm 41-29, while scoring 46 points in the paint.
 
Four players scored in double figures for NWU as all five starters had impressive stat lines.
 
Leading scorer Nate Schimonitz finished with 24 points and a team-high eight assists.  The top scorer in the conference was 8-14 from the floor and a perfect 7-7 at the free throw line, scoring 15 of his points in the second half.
 
Jack Hiller led the team in scoring at halftime and finished with 16 points, knocking down four 3-pointers while grabbing six rebounds.  Clay Reimers was all over the court scoring 12 points with eight rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals while shutting down Simpson's center to only one made field goal.
 
The other player in double figures was Dylan Dirks who scored 11 points, making 3-4 on 3-point attempts and pulling down six rebounds.  Nate Bahe missed double figures in scoring and just missed a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds.
 
NWU is back at home on Saturday to host Luther College at 4 pm in Snyder Arena.