Storm fall to No. 20 Loras

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson men's basketball team couldn't overcome a hot-shooting Loras squad in an 85-61 loss Wednesday night.

Demond George scored a game-high 22 points and the No. 20 Duhawks (11-2, 3-1 American Rivers) shot better than 50 percent in the first half, building a 20-point lead by halftime. Jordan Boyd added 14 points and Ryan DiCanio had 12.

Adam Reiter and Alec Hinson had 12 points apiece to lead the Storm (8-4, 2-2). Hinson came off the bench to go a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

George hit a 3 on the game's first possession and the Duhawks led the rest of the way. Rowan McGowen's layup with 9:01 left capped off a 12-4 run and made it 23-10. Simpson cut the lead to nine on three Kyle Wagner free throws at the 8:10 mark in the first half, but DiCanio responded with a 3 and Loras led by double figures the rest of the way.

The lead grew to 34 in the second half before Simpson outscored Loras 19-9 over the final 9 minutes.

John Barbee had eight points and six rebounds and Ben Rajewski added eight points for the Storm.

GAME NOTES

Leading scorer Conor Riordan returned after missing the last three games due to injury. He scored four points in 19 minutes of play … Loras held a 44-26 advantage in the paint and out-rebounded the Storm by 12 … Simpson endured its worst offensive performance of the season, scoring a season-low 61 points while shooting a season-low 34.4 percent from the field.

UP NEXT

Simpson travels to Dubuque on Saturday, Jan. 5. Start time is set for 4 p.m. at Stoltz Sports Center.