MBB Preview: Storm battle Wartburg on Wednesday

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- After two-straight road contests, the Simpson men's basketball team is back in Cowles Fieldhouse to host Wartburg on Wednesday. The American Rivers Conference game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. after the women's contest.

The Storm (8-8, 2-5 A-R-C) held a 40-34 halftime lead at Luther on Sunday, but couldn't hang on and lost, 83-73. The Knights (7-9, 3-4 A-R-C) are coming off a 94-92 overtime loss at Coe on Saturday.

The game will be video streamed live on SimpsonAthletics.com as Bryan Geelan has the call. Fans can also access the video stream via the American Rivers application on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.

GAME 17
Wartburg (7-9, 3-4 A-R-C) at Simpson (8-8, 2-5 A-R-C) 
Wednesday, Jan. 22 | 7:30 p.m.
Cowles Fieldhouse | Indianola, Iowa
Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio

LISTEN TO THE STORM
The team of Andrew Swadner and Rick Wilson will have the call on 94.3 FM and 1320 AM or online at kniakrls.com. Fans can also download the KNIA app, available on iTunes and Google Play.

WARTBURG SERIES NOTES
The Storm and Knights meet for the 141st time in a series that began during the 1945-46 campaign ... Simpson grabbed an 84-81 win in the last meeting on Jan. 31, 2019 at home against Wartburg to halt a three-game losing streak in the series ... the teams have met five times over the last two seasons, with one matchup taking place in the conference tournament ... during those five games, the winner has won by an average of 6.2 points to show how tough it's been in the series ... since the 2014-15 season, there has only been three games separated by 10-or-more points.

RECENT RESULTS
Jan. 31, 2019 — W, 84-81 (Indianola)
Nov. 28, 2018 — L, 92-81 (Waverly)
Feb. 20, 2018 — L, 76-72 (Indianola)
Feb. 3, 2018 — L, 85-77 (Waverly)
Jan. 13, 2018 — W, 86-81 (Indianola)

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
Wartburg and 23rd-year head coach Dick Peth have won their last three of four meetings in conference play and recently lost at Coe on Saturday, 94-92 in overtime ... the Knights started the season on fire by winning three straight, but then suffered seven-consecutive losses ... the offense is eighth on the scoring end in the conference at 76.9 ppg, but third on the defensive side by allowing 76.5 ppg ... Max Smith Drahos is leading the charge with 12.4 ppg and Jack Molstead is the other offensive threat that's scoring above 10 points at 10.1.

LAST TIME OUT
After holding a six-point halftime lead at Luther on Sunday, the Norse rallied back to win 83-73 to give Simpson its second-straight loss and fourth-straight road defeat ... Conor Riordan was his usual self by scoring 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting ... he also added five rebounds and four assists to his stat sheet ... Adam Reiter tallied 16 points and 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double this season.

STORM NOTES
• Simpson in the national rankings:

8th — free throw percentage (78.2%)
16th — field goal percentage (49.4%)
20th — scoring offense (87.6)

•Storm in the national rankings:

Conor Riordan — 12th in assist to turnover ratio (3.0), 22nd in free throw percentage (88.5%)
Adam Reiter — 22nd in double-doubles (8), 25th in field goal percentage (62.0%)

• In the A-R-C, the Storm are second in shooting percentage (49.4), third in scoring (87.6), but are second to last in points allowed per contest at 83.9.
• Three starters are scoring in double figures as Conor Riordan is leading the way at 19.8 ppg. Reiter is second at 16.6 and Kyle Wagner follows with an average of 13.9.
• Conor Riordan became the 21st player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. He needed just 11 points to reach it when the season started and used his 22 points in the season opener against Bethany Lutheran to join the club. Riordan is currently 11th in program history with 1,305 career points and needs just 62 points to move into 10th place.

UP NEXT
Simpson travels to Dubuque this Saturday for a 4 p.m. A-R-C affair.