Storm open West Coast trip with 84-83 victory

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- For the second time this season, Conor Riordan sank two free throws at the end of a game to seal a one-point victory for the Simpson men's basketball team, this time coming in an 84-83 triumph over UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday.

The Storm (7-4) started their West Coast trip with the win as three starters scored in double figures and two hit double digits off the bench. Riordan had a game-high 21 points and five assists, Adam Reiter poured in 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Wagner added 19. Collin Lister had 12 and Chris Honz scored 10 off the bench.

Riordan's free throws came with less than 25 seconds left in the game after he secured his second steal of the game just seconds prior as Simpson was down by two points. The Banana Slugs (5-7) had a late heave at the buzzer from behind the arc, but were unable to connect to spoil Riordan's clutch performance.

UC Santa Cruz was down by six points at the 6:38 mark after Reiter scored to put the game at 74-68 for the team's largest tilt since owning a 69-61 lead three minutes earlier. After Reiter's bucket, the Banana Slugs drained two straight 3-pointers to notch the game at 74-74. UC Santa Cruz went out in front at 78-76, but Riordan had other ideas and buried his third triple of the game to put the Storm on top at 79-78.

On Simpson's ensuing possession, Wagner hit his fifth triple to widen the gap to four points. The Banana Slugs slid back to take the lead with 38 seconds remaining prior to Riordan going to the charity stripe.

In the opening half, the Storm held two seven point leads to grab some breathing room and used an 8-0 spurt over 50 seconds to place the game 25-18 with 6:03 left until intermission. The UC Santa Cruz offense ignited for a 16-6 run to regain the lead at 34-31 and held on to stay ahead at 34-33 into half.

Just over the first five minutes of play in the second stanza, the Simpson offense put together a 24-10 scoring spree for its largest lead of the game at 57-44. Over the next 9:23 of play, the Banana Slugs fought back to tie the contest at 74-74 as the offense made five 3-pointers.

It was hard for either team to find an edge all evening as each squad had 40 points in the paint, 24 bench points and 15 assists. The Storm shot 47% from the field and 45.8% from long range, while the 11 makes at the free throw line proved to be the difference. UC Santa Cruz held a slight 36-34 rebounding edge, but committed 12 turnovers compared to Simpson's seven.

Up Next
The Storm take on Redlands tomorrow at 3 p.m. (CT) at San Diego City College to close out their two-game trip in the Golden State.