Riordan scores 36; Storm fall to Coe

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson men's basketball team ended the first half of American Rivers Conference action with an 84-78 loss to Coe in the teams' 90th meeting all-time on Saturday.

Conor Riordan led all scorers with 36 points and played all 40 minutes of game action. Adam Reiter tallied 23 points, both combined to shoot 24 of 36 and Riordan drained six shots from behind the arc for Simpson.

The Storm were down by two with just over a minute left in the second half, but the team could not get their shots to fall as the clock ticked down. Simpson had to start fouling and Coe converted six free throws in the last 11 seconds to pull away.

The Storm claimed a small five-point lead several minutes into the second half, but could never add to it and fell down to as much as nine over the course of 10 minutes.

Simpson sent the game into halftime tied at 39-all after scoring five points in the final 26 seconds of the half. Reiter made two free throws and Riordan converted a steal into a quick layup before he added another layup just as time expired off the clock.

Nolan Timp, Tommy Hook, Austin Roth and Josh Schmitt all scored in double figures for the Cohawks.

GAME NOTES

The Storm were hot in the first half from behind the arc at a 40 percent clip, but only shot 21.4 percent in the second half from long distance. This was Riordan's second 30-plus point game this season, he scored 35 against Bethany Christian in the season opener.

UP NEXT

The Storm look to get back to their winning ways on Wednesday when the squad travels to Buena Vista for an 8 p.m. showdown.