Reiter’s double-double lifts Storm at Cornell

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa -- Adam Reiter tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds as Kyle Wagner chipped in 20 points to help lift the Simpson men's basketball team to an 84-74 win over Cornell in a nonconference affair on Tuesday.

Despite the Storm's (4-1) early 11-point advantage at the 15:40 mark after starting the matchup with a 14-3 run, the Rams (3-2) fought back to tie the game at 18-18 with just under 13 minutes to go in the first half. Simpson would use a 5-0 spurt to reclaim the lead but the hosts would follow to tie the contest at 23-23.

Cornell would drill a 3-pointer to grab the lead at 26-25 before Ahmed Musa and Jeremiah Chandler both scored to swing the momentum in favor of the Storm once again. The game would either be tied or in Simpson's favor up until the 5:21 mark just before the Rams made another triple and a jumper to grab the edge at 38-35.

Kyle Wagner made a 3-pointer to put it a gridlock once again at 38-38 to halt Cornell's run and Parker Lange added two free throws before Wagner connected on another 3-pointer to make it 43-38. Simpson went into halftime with a 52-45 lead after maintaining the advantage the rest of the period.

The Storm would never trail in the second half as the Rams were able to tie the game once at 55-55. At the halfway point of the second frame, Adam Reiter made a basket to start a 13-2 run to extend the gap to 75-62 as the team held on to win.

Reiter connected on 80% of his shots and ended with five blocks to come up shy of a triple-double while Wagner shot 50% from the floor. Lange added 11 points by going 6 of 6 from the charity stripe to help the cause. As a unit, Simpson was 47% from the floor and had 50 rebounds, while holding Cornell to 31 boards and 37.5% shooting.

Notes
• Reiter now has seven double-doubles in his career at Simpson after securing his first double figure performance on the glass this season.
• This is the first time the Storm have had 50 rebounds in a game since tallying 56 against Kansas Christian on Dec. 10, 2016.
• Through the team's first five games, they are first in the American Rivers Conference in 3-point shooting percentage (46%) and in 3-pointers made (52).

Up Next
After just finishing a stretch of five games in six days, the Storm take a little break and return back to the court on Friday, Nov. 22 at the Carroll University Tournament. Simpson takes on the host, Carroll, at 7 p.m.