Indianola, IA 11/13/2022- The Westminster College men's basketball team took on the hosts of the SLIAC/ARC Crossover, the Simpson College Storm in a Sunday matinee. The Storm came into the undefeated at 2-0 on the season and the Blue Jays were looking to pick up their first win of the year. Simpson led the game from start to finish and would win the game 83-63, improving to 3-0. The Blue Jays fall to 0-2.
Both teams would struggle offensively to start the game not scoring a point until they were two minutes into the game. Simpson would hit a three to go up 3-0. The offensive struggles would continue for much of the half as the score stalled at 11-9 and 12-9 for almost five minutes of game time. Simpson would start to find the shooting stroke with 10:30 left in the first half. They would score four three-pointers as part of their 20 to 8 scoring run to take a 35-19 lead with five minutes to go until halftime. The Jays would rally late in the half going on a 6-0 run to try and cut down the Simpson lead before halftime. The Storm responded with four unanswered points in the final minute of the half to take a 43-26 lead at the break.
Westminster started the second half facing a seventeen-point deficit and they would go to work whittling away at the Simpson. The Jays would cut the Simpson lead to eight points after starting the second half on a 21-12 run. Sophomore guard Owen Farrell (Sullivan, MO / Sullivan) hit a three with 10:46 left to play to get them to 55-47 and force the Simpson coach to call a timeout.
After the timeout, the Storm would find the three-point stroke making five threes as part of a 22 to 7 run and in a blink of an eye, they had a 77-54 lead with 5:20 left to play. Simpson would hold the Blue Jay offense to just 9 points total down the stretch and win the game 83-63.
The Blue Jays were led by Tre Kempker (Eugene, Mo. / Eugene) who had 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks in the game. He would also go 5-5 from the free-throw line. Jaxon Althaus (Oak Grove, Mo. / Oak Grove) would also score in double digits with 11 points.
Westminster will be back in action on Tuesday, November 15th when they travel to Rolla, Missouri to take on Missouri S&T. That game will tip off at 7:00 PM
