LINCOLN, Neb. – For the third straight season, Nebraska Wesleyan is headed to the conference tournament championship as the Prairie Wolves redeemed their only American Rivers Conference loss with a 91-77 victory over Simpson College in the A-R-C Tournament Semifinals on Thursday night (Feb. 27) at Snyder Arena.
 
NWU now advances to the A-R-C Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game on Saturday night (Feb. 29) where they will host Coe College.
 
The Prairie Wolves (23-3) scored 52 second half points, shooting 60.0% from the field in the 2^nd half to outscore the Storm by ten points and seal the victory.
 
Unlike last week when NWU struggled offensively and Simpson couldn't miss, the Prairie Wolves were the team that shot at a high level in the second half this time around. 
 
Simpson jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead with the Prairie Wolves missing their first three 3-point attempts.  From there, the Prairie Wolves went on a 20-3 run to open up a 13-point lead just eight minutes into the game.  The Storm wouldn't go away and went on a 16-4 run of their own to cut the lead to one point.
 
A layup in the in final seconds of the half by Storm center Adam Reiter cut the lead to 39-35 at the halftime break.
 
To start the second half, the Storm tied the game at 39-39 then the Prairie Wolves went on another big run.  NWU outscored Simpson 15-2 over a four minute stretch to get the lead back to 13 points.  Clay Reimers was a big reason for the big run with two fast break dunks, including one off a feed from Nate Schimonitz that resulted in a 3-point play.
 
Once the Prairie Wolves got ahead by double digits, the Storm were never able to cut it under ten.
 
Over a stretch of six possessions, the Prairie Wolves hit five 3-pointers with four of them coming from Schimonitz who caught fire in the second half.
 
Schimonitz finished with a game-high 34 points, going 14-22 from the field and 4-9 on 3-point attempts.  He had 13 in the first half, then added 21 more in the second half to go along with seven assists.
 
Simpson would not go away and stayed close to the hot shooting Prairie Wolves with their 3-point shooting.  The Storm made 10 3-pointers in the second half, with all but four of their made field goals in the second half coming from behind the arc.
 
It marks the fourth straight game the Storm made over 11 3-pointers in a game.  They were 14-38 overall, but shot just 41.8 overall after coming into the game making over 53 percent during their winning streak.
 
The Storm finish the season with a 14-13 overall record.  Senior Conor Riordan finishes his standout career with 22 points, making four 3-pointers.  Adam Reiter had a big game in his finale with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Nick Janssen scored 12 and Kyle Wagner 10.
 
Three players were in double figures for the Prairie Wolves who ended the game shooting 51.5% overall and 10-29 on 3-pointers.
 
Besides Schimonitz with his 34, Clay Reimers posted his 7^th double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.  Jack Hiller hit four 3-pointers to score 18 points in 37 minutes of action.  Dylan Dirks just missed a double-double with eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.  Cordell Gillingham came off the bench to score nine points with six rebounds.
 
With the victory on Thursday, NWU head coach Dale Wellman earned win No. 200 for his career.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan now prepares for the A-R-C Tournament title game against a Coe College team that they have defeated twice this season, both by margins of six points.