MBB Preview: Simpson faces Buena Vista in A-R-C Tournament opener

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- After beating Buena Vista at home on Saturday to clinch a spot in the American Rivers Conference Tournament, the Storm and Beavers will meet for the opening round on Tuesday. The contest will begin at 7 p.m. in Storm Lake, Iowa in a battle of the No. 4 and 5 seeds in this year's bracket.

Simpson (13-12, 7-9 A-R-C) earned its spot in the A-R-C Tournament after defeating the Beavers (18-7, 9-7 A-R-C), 85-72, over the weekend. The Storm won their last three games of the regular season to stay alive in the hunt, which landed the squad their fifth-straight league tournament appearance.

Fans can access the video stream via the American Rivers application on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV or by visiting SimpsonAthletics.com to find the video link.

GAME 26
Simpson (13-12, 7-9 A-R-C) at Buena Vista (18-7, 9-7 A-R-C)
Tuesday, Feb. 25 | 7 p.m.
Siebens Fieldhouse | Buena Vista, Iowa
Live Video | Live Stats

BUENA VISTA SERIES NOTES
The Storm and Beavers meet for the 160th time dating back to 1921, with Simpson owning an 82-77 record ... over the last five matchups between the squads, Simpson has won three and Buena Vista has claimed the other two contests, but neither team has won two in a row during that span ... the winner has won by an average of 10.6 points during those games, with the closest being a six-point margin on Jan. 20, 2018 in Storm Lake, which Simpson prevailed in ... this is the first time since Feb. 23, 2016 that both teams have met in the conference tournament, which the Beavers won, 87-58.

RECENT RESULTS
Feb. 22, 2020 — W, 85-72 (Indianola)
Jan. 11, 2020 — L, 97-85 (Storm Lake)
Jan. 23, 2019 — W, 98-89 (Storm Lake)
Dec. 5, 2018 — L, 81-68 (Indianola)
Jan. 20, 2018 — W, 88-82 (Storm Lake)

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Buena Vista and first-year head coach Trevor Johnson currently sit fourth in the conference, earning home-court advantage for the first round of the A-R-C Tournament ... the Beavers look to bounce back after dropping their final regular season game to Simpson on Saturday ... as a unit, the team is second in the league in scoring (87.3) and third in scoring defense (75.3) ... four players are averaging in double figures for the Beavers; Timothy Jeffries (17.8), Michael Demers (15.2), Dominic Sesma (12.9) and DJ McNeal (12.4).

A-R-C TOURNAMENT
After winning its fourth-straight league crown, Nebraska Wesleyan is the top seed in this year's A-R-C Tournament ... Coe has the first round bye as the second seed ... Loras (3), Buena Vista (4), Simpson (5) and Wartburg (6) round out the rest of the bracket ... the winner of the Storm and Beavers will face the Prairie Wolves on Thursday and the winner between the Duhawks and Knights travel to Cedar Rapids to face the Kohawks.

STORM NOTES
• Simpson in the national rankings (last updated 2/21/20):

8th — free throw percentage (76.8%)

• Storm in the national rankings (last updated 2/21/20):

Conor Riordan — fifth in free throw percentage (90.8%), eighth in assist to turnover ratio (3.3)
Adam Reiter — 15th in field goal percentage (62.7%)

• In the A-R-C, the Storm are third in scoring (84.0) and in shooting percentage (48.7%), but are seventh in points allowed per contest at 80.2.
• Three starters are scoring in double figures as Conor Riordan is leading the way at 20.0 ppg. Reiter is second at 15.4, and Kyle Wagner follows with an average of 15.0.
• Adam Reiter has been a double-double machine this season and currently has 10 games capturing the feat. Reiter paces the league and had a streak of four-straight contests with a double-double during the year.
• 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 ninth in program history with 1,489 and needs one point to move into eighth.

UP NEXT
If Simpson wins, the team will travel to face Nebraska Wesleyan on Thursday.