Late charge falls just short

INDIANOLA, Iowa - A spirited run by Simpson late in the second half did not result in a win for the Storm as Loras escaped with an 81-78 win at Cowles Fieldhouse Saturday evening.

Trailing by as much as 15 in the second half, the Storm (3-10, 0-4 IIAC) cut the lead to three with under a minute remaining on a Tim Dunlavy triple. But two opportunities to tie or take the lead in the final 25 seconds came up short as the Duhawks (8-6, 3-2 IIAC) won their third game in a row.

Senior forward Andrew Dau turned in a monster second half for Simpson, scoring 17 of his game-high 21 points in the final 20 minutes and grabbing eight rebounds. Dunlavy contributed 18 points as the only other Simpson scorer in double figures.

Tim Kelly paced the effort for Loras with 18, followed by Connor Mooney with 16. Mike Gleason chipped in with 12.

After taking a 35-32 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Duhawks quickly built an 11-point lead within the first minute of the second half on back-to-back threes by Gleason and a fast-break layin by Kelly. Loras' lead grew to 15 when Jason Abbuhl's layup at the 12:43 mark made the score 56-41.

Simpson answered with a 9-0 run highlighted by a pair of free throws and a pull-up jumper from freshman point guard Elijah Knox.

After Loras stretched its lead back to nine with 2:31 remaining, Dau took over. A perfect trip to the free-throw line preceded a thrilling three-point play that made the score 74-70 with just under two minutes remaining.

Simpson made it a one possession game for the first time with 51 seconds left on the clock. After a Dan Pewalski layup gave Loras a 76-70 lead, Dunlavy stepped out and knocked home a three.

Four straight free throws from Mooney pushed the lead back to seven before Dau connected on a fall-away three with 32 seconds left. Simpson then took advantage of a technical foul on the Loras bench as Zack Barragan knocked down two free throws to make the score 80-78.

Following a missed free throw by Mooney, Simpson had the ball with a chance to tie with 25 seconds remaining. Taking the ball the whole way, Knox found a seam to the hoop, but his left-handed layup couldn't crawl over the rim as Jordan Harrelson secured the rebound for Loras with six seconds to go.

Despite Harrelson going 1-of-2 at the line, Loras' defense tightened down and didn't allow a clean look at the hoop in the final seconds.

Simpson returns to Iowa Conference action Wednesday, Jan. 13 when it travels to Storm Lake for matchup against Buena Vista (7-6, 3-1 IIAC). The men will follow the women's game, which is set to tipoff at 6 p.m. You can hear the action by listening to 105.3 KEDB or logging on to www.kedb.fm. 

Notes: With 18 points Saturday, Tim Dunlavy moved into ninth place on Simpson's career scoring list ... he now has 1,167 points, passing Tom Hensely (1,157 from 1962-65) ... Jason Parkinson (2003-07) is eighth with 1,425 career points.