Dunlavy's 20 leads Storm in loss

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - Simpson surrendered 53 first-half points Friday night against Illinois College, dropping an 88-74 decision on the first day of the 11th Illinois College Bill Merris Tournament.

The host-Blueboys (1-0) went on a 13-0 run mid-way through the first half, breaking open a one-point game en-route to a 53-29 lead at intermission.

After being held to six points in Tuesday's season-opener against Augustana, Tim Dunlavy broke out for 20 Friday night to lead the Storm (0-2). He shot 9-of-13 from the field and was a rebound away from a double-double.

The Blueboys were led by Craig Bals, who came up with 15 of his game-high 25 points off 5-of-6 shotting from behind the three-point line. As a team, Illinois College hit on 11-of-22 three-point attempts.

Leading 10-9 with 15:59 to go in the opening half, Illinois College took advantage of four-consecutive Simpson turnovers in building a 23-9 advantage. Bals hit two-three pointers during the run, which ended when Dunlavy used a feed from Elijah Knox to get a layup with 13:02 to go in the first half. Knox dished out a team-high five assists on the night.

Simpson trailed by as much as 30 in the second half, but outscored IC 45-35 in the frame to narrow the gap. Simpson improved its shooting percentage by more than 23 percent from the first half to the second, shooting 53.1 percent compared to 29.3 in the first 20 minutes.

Matt Fouch added 13 points for the Storm, followed by Zack Barragan with 10. Andrew Dau brought down a game-high and career-best 11 rebounds.