Stoermer storms in to help out

IOWA CITY - entered Iowa's game inauspiciously Tuesday night.

On his first offensive possession against Louisiana-Monroe, Stoermer had the ball stolen. But Stoermer, a junior, rallied on Iowa's next possession.

The 6-foot-2 guard from Coralville drilled a 3-pointer, which ended a 5-minute, 37-second scoring drought, to extend Iowa's lead to seven points. Four possessions later, he hit another 3-pointer to give Iowa a 10-point lead. He made a free throw two possessions later, helping Iowa to an 11-point lead.

Not bad for a non-scholarship player.

“Stoermer came in and gave us a big lift,” freshman guard Devyn Marble said. “When me and Bryce (Cartwright) came in, we played defense well but we couldn't score. That stretch where we had 15 (points), I don't know for how long, a long time, Stoermer came in and settled all that down, and knocked two big 3s down for us. Then he settled us down.”

Stoermer, who played one minute with no statistics against South Dakota State, played 19 in a 68-40 win against Louisiana-Monroe. He had no other turnovers besides the initial steal and grabbed three rebounds. He had one steal himself.

Stoermer, 21, played well enough he started hearing friendly verbal jabs from his teammates after the game.

“He was huge. I thought he was great,” sophomore point guard Cully Payne said. “I was giving him a hard time; all the media wants to talk to him. He's on TV and everything. Can you say thank you? He was great. I was proud of him.

“Coach told him before the game, ‘Are you ready to play?' He said, ‘Yeah.' He came in and did his job.”

Stoermer's path to Iowa began at Iowa City West, where he led Class 4A in scoring his senior year at 21 points a game. He ranks second in career scoring at West with 1,327 points and is first in career steals with 273.

He played for two seasons at Kirkwood Community College and twice helped the Eagles to the national tournament. He averaged 10.7 points and was twice first team all-region and was all-region MVP last year. Stoermer had opportunities to earn a scholarship at other schools, but picked Iowa. Part of it was his desire to become an engineer. The other was his background.

“He's very bright. Always wanted to be a Hawk,” Coach Fran McCaffery said.

“You know, I think he kind of decided pretty much on his own. I knew who he was. I knew he was interested.

“I think he had some low-level one offers, other people asking him to walk on. At that point in time I spoke to him about making sure he knew that I wanted him on our team.”

For Stoermer, playing at Iowa was his dream. He weighed his options, but when McCaffery asked him to walk on, Stoermer couldn't say no.

“It's one of a kind,” Stoermer said. “Not very many people can experience it. I've worked hard all my life, and it's really rewarding to be able to live it.”