—Photo by Megan Glover, Briar Cliff St. Edmond graduate and former Iowa Central guard Andrew Gibb competes for Briar Cliff.

SIOUX CITY — Andrew Gibb found himself heading off to a new town and team right during a pandemic in 2020.

Gibb, a former all-stater for St. Edmond, recently finished his sophomore season with the Briar Cliff men’s basketball team after spending a year at Iowa Central.

The Chargers went 12-14 overall and 9-11 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, seeing their season end in the league tournament at the hands of Northwestern.

For Gibb, adjusting to new coaches, teammates and a living environment was a challenge he accepted.

“The transition was definitely difficult at first,” he said. “I’d never been to Sioux City and didn’t really know many people, but my teammates really took me in and made me feel at home. Going to school in a pandemic has certainly been difficult at times.

“A lot of online classes and following strict rules, but at the end of the day, I’m thankful that we are able to be here and got through a full basketball season with no cancellations.”

Gibb finished the year playing over 200 minutes with 107 points, 24 rebounds, 10 assists and six steals, growing into a key contributor off the bench for Briar Cliff. He had a career-high 17 against Mount Marty during a January game and had a season-best seven made field goals vs. Hastings.

“The season was something I’m proud of,” Gibb said. “I started the year barely playing and finished as one of the first guys off the bench. I had a couple of games where I led the team in scoring and finished averaging about six points in conference games on 60 percent field goal shooting, 53 percent 3-point shooting and 90 percent free throw shooting.”

Now, Gibb will work on continuing to improve his game just like he did when going from St. Edmond to Iowa Central.

“I think the transition from high school to college will always be more difficult than a college to another college,” Gibb said. “I felt much more prepared coming into this year with a season of college ball under my belt.

“Going into this summer, the goal is to continue to get bigger, stronger, faster and be ready to make a big run next year.”