INDIANOLA, Iowa — Freshman guard Conor Riordan came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points, but the Simpson men’s basketball team fell to rival Central College 76-66 in the first round of the Iowa Conference tournament, ending their season.

The fourth-seeded Storm (16-10) trailed by 32-31 at the half but couldn’t quite get over the hump, as fifth-seeded Central (15-11) used a 23-6 run to open up the second half and never relinquished the lead.

Simpson used a 12-2 run of their own, highlighted by a Sam Amsbaugh 3-pointer that cut the Dutch lead to 59-53, but that’s as close as the Storm would get.

Central used back-to-back buckets on the other end to push the lead to double figures once again and the Storm couldn’t force another comeback.

Amsbaugh finished with 15 points, giving him 995 points for his career. He will come into his senior season looking to become the 20th member of Simpson’s 1,000-point club.

Seniors Austin Turner and Ryan Skaar both finished with 13 points, while fellow senior D.J. Dafney pulled down 11 rebounds.

Riordan finished the game 7-8 from the field and 4-4 from beyond the arc to go along with three rebounds and no turnovers.

With the loss, the Storm said goodbye to six seniors who helped turn the program around, going 10-40 in their first two seasons and 31-21 in their final two, including back-to-back 15 win seasons, something that hasn’t been accomplished by the program in 18 years.