Storm let early lead slip in loss to Dubuque

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Adam Reiter notched his third double-double of the year as the Simpson men's basketball team let an early double-figure lead slip and fell 77-68 to Dubuque on Tuesday in the American Rivers Conference opener.

Reiter tallied 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Wagner added 17 points as well to help the Storm (5-3, 0-1 A-R-C) offense. Conor Riordan poured in 10 points to help the cause.

As the game sat at 14-11 in favor of Simpson at the 13:20 mark in the first half, the Storm went on a 10-2 spurt over the next three minutes of game action to extend the lead to 24-13. The Spartans (4-0, 1-0 A-R-C) stole the momentum soon after by reeling off a 20-4 run during the next six-plus minutes of play to take ahold of the game at 33-28.

The Storm would brush off the dust and tie the game at 35-35 with 2:26 to go until halftime, but would not score the remainder of the period as Dubuque carried a 40-35 advantage into the locker room.

The scoring drought continued for Simpson's offense into the second half as it took nearly three minutes of gameplay until Wagner lifted the scoring lid. A dunk by Reiter ignited the offense to go on a 14-3 run to tie the game at 53-53 at the halfway point of the second half before a pair of free throws by Jeremiah Chandler gave the Storm a two-point lead.

After both teams traded leads over the next several minutes, Simpson found itself with a four-point tilt at 66-62 with just under four minutes to go, but the Spartans rallied back on a 10-0 swing to steal the lead for good and held on to win.

The Storm shot 37.1% from the floor for their lowest field goal percentage of the season. From behind the arc, the team connected on 26.3% of its attempts for the second lowest of the year.

Up Next
Simpson travels to Coe on Wednesday, Dec. 4 for an A-R-C showdown. The game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.