STORM LAKE, Iowa (December 7, 2019) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team bounced back from their first loss of the year in a big way on Saturday afternoon, using a big 23-6 run in the second half that allowed the Beavers to cruise to an 89-75 victory over visiting Wartburg College on Saturday.

It was a back-and-forth battle throughout the first half with BVU leading by as many as eight on multiple occurrences until a floater by junior Michael Demers found the bottom of the net just before the buzzer sounded to give the Beavers their largest lead of the game going into the half, 47-38.

The cushion reached double-digits for the first time at 52-42 less than two minutes into the second half after a pair of free-throws by junior Lincoln Rock.  The Knights hung around all game long, pulling back as close as 57-52 before the big run by BVU pushed its lead to 80-58 with 5:28 to play.  The Knights were able to close the gap to 14 over the final two minutes after each team had cleared its respective benches with reserves.

Senior Timothy Jeffries turned in a game-high 26 points, on 10-of-12 shooting from the floor.  He made 3-of-5 attempts from long range also went 3-of-4 at the free-throw line.  Dominic Sesma continues his torrid shooting stretch, connecting on 4-of-7 from downtown in this game en route to 20 points.  He also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals.  Michael Demers chipped in with three makes from beyond the arc and scored 15 points.  He pulled in a career-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists.

BVU made 12-of-31 from three-point range (38.7 percent) and connected on 54.2 percent of their field goal attempts overall.  The team also held a slim advantage on the boards, 35-29.

Wartburg (3-6, 0-2 A-R-C) made just 3-of-18 from long range, despite shooting 45 percent overall.  The Beavers held the Knights to 40 percent shooting in the second half after they had connected on 50 percent in the first.  

Buena Vista runs its record to 9-1 overall (1-1 A-R-C) and has now won seven straight home contests dating back to last season.  The Beavers will look for back-to-back wins to wrap up the calendar year when it hosts Faith Baptist Bible College on Thursday, December 13 at 6 p.m.