Storm reach second-straight A-R-C Semifinals

STORM LAKE, Iowa -- A quartet of players scored in double figures to lift the Simpson men's basketball team to an 86-70 win over Buena Vista on Tuesday to advance in the American Rivers Conference Tournament.

Conor Riordan led the way with 22 points en route to netting his 1,500th career point in the victory. Riordan is now ninth on the all-time scoring list and needs 28 points to move into eighth. Kyle Wagner scored 21 points for his fourth-straight double figure performance and Collin Lister added a career-high 19 points with five makes from deep. Adam Reiter notched 11 points to help the Storm (14-12).

Overall, Simpson connected on 62.2% of its shots and went 61.9% from deep to advance to the semifinals of the league tournament for the second-straight season.

As the Storm and Beavers (18-8) met for the second time in four days, the contest started out as a tough-knit battle. Buena Vista held a light 17-16 edge through the first nine minutes of play, before the senior trio of Nick Janssen, Reiter and Riordan brought the team out front with a 7-0 run. The swing then turned into a 12-1 spurt to take a 10-point lead at 28-18.

The Beavers stopped the visitors' run and momentum with a basket, but it didn't last long as Simpson erupted for a 9-0 attack in 90 seconds of play. Later in the half, a fast break bucket by Lister pushed the tilt to 20 points. Buena Vista chipped away at the deficit to put the game at 46-31 in favor of Simpson at the break.

The six makes from deep pushed the Storm in the first half and they only missed seven of their 23 attempts from the floor to provide the spark.

In the second half, Wagner tallied the first eight points and Lister drained back-to-back treys to keep the advantage in double figures at 60-42. The league foes kept trading buckets before Simpson went on another short spurt to push the lead to the largest of the game of 26 at 78-52 with just over eight minutes to play.

The offense was a little stagnant for the Storm in the remaining minutes of the half when Buena Vista reeled off a 12-3 tilt, but ran out of time to complete the comeback.

During Simpson's four-game winning streak, the offense is shooting better than 50% and has made more than 11 triples in three of those outings.

Up Next
Simpson remains on the road this Thursday as the squad heads to top-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan for the second round of the A-R-C Tournament.