INDIANOLA, Iowa – Simpson College never trailed in the game pulling the biggest upset of the conference season taking down 6^th-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan 86-59 in American Rivers Conference men's basketball action on Wednesday night (Feb. 19) at Cowles Fieldhouse in Indianola, Iowa.
 
The loss snaps NWU's 11-game winning streak and their 20-game conference regular season winning streak that dated back to last season.  It marks the largest margin of loss for a Prairie Wolves team since Jan. 23, 2016 when they lost by 29 points at Briar Cliff University.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan came out flat offensively and never was able to get things going scoring a season-low 59 points.  The 59 points marks the second lowest point total in Coach Dale Wellman's tenure, only behind the 58-point performance last season in the NCAA III Tournament.
 
Simpson, which is playing for a spot in the postseason tournament, had a lot to do with the Prairie Wolves struggles as they slowed down NWU with a zone defense early and got it going on their offensive end.
 
The Storm jumped out to an early 9-2 lead to set the tone early and they never looked back.  NWU cut the lead down to six points but a stretch of over five minutes without a made field goal allowed the Storm to get ahead by 15.   They led by as many as 16 points in the 1^st half before the Prairie Wolves made a late run to cut it to 35-25 at the break.
 
Nate Schimonitz, the only NWU player to score in double figures, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute to give NWU momentum heading into the locker room.  Prior to those two baskets, the Prairie Wolves were only 5-25 from the field and ended the half at 25.9%.
 
To start the second half, the Storm opened with a 16-4 run to get up by 22 points less than five minutes into the half.
 
Like they've done before under Coach Wellman's leadership, the Prairie Wolves made a run.  Seven straight points by Schimonitz cut the lead down to 55-41 with 11:30 remaining forcing a Simpson timeout.  Unfortunately for NWU, that was as close as they would get and those would be the last points of the game for their leading scorer Schimonitz.
 
The Storm came out of the timeout to go on a 14-3 run getting ahead by 25 points and they maintained that large advantage the rest of the way to celebrate in front of their home crowd and keep their postseason hopes alive.
 
Simpson shot 53.3% from the field for the game, hitting 64.3% in the second half missing only ten attempts the entire final 20 minutes.  The Storm were 11-29 from 3-point range and 11-13 at the free throw line.
 
It was the Storm big three that were the story of the game.  Kyle Wagner led the way with 25 points, making 4-4 on his 3-pointers and getting six assists.  Connor Riordan also made four 3-pointers to score 23 points while Adam Reiter controlled the inside with 19 points on 8-11 shooting.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan had only one player in double figures with Schimonitz getting 21 points.  Cordell Gillingham and Peyton Priest both came off the bench to score seven points, while Jack Hiller also got seven with only one made field goal.
 
The Prairie Wolves will look to rebound from this loss in Indianola much the same way they did two years ago.  In 2018, NWU fell in overtime at Cowles Fieldhouse then wouldn't lose again on their way to the NCAA III National Championship.  Since then, the Prairie Wolves had won 34 of the last 35 conference games until tonight.
 
Saturday the Prairie Wolves close out the regular season by hosting 2^nd place Loras College on Senior Day.  NWU will honor their terrific class of eight seniors prior to the tip-off of the game versus the Duhawks which starts at 4 pm.