DECORAH, Iowa (February 1, 2020) - For the first time all season, the Buena Vista men's basketball team has dropped back-to-back games after a tough 87-81 road loss at Luther College on Saturday afternoon.

BVU stuck around and kept things close all game long, but was never able to stretch out a lead.  The Norse came out and made 11 of their first 14 shot attempts in the contest and finished the opening half at 16-of-26 overall, including 7-of-12 from downtown.  They didn't cool off much over the final 20 minutes, going 50 percent overall to finish the game at 56 percent.  They made 11-of-24 from beyond the arc and converted 20-of-25 at the free-throw line.

The Beavers didn't have a bad shooting day of their own, going 50 percent overall, including 11-of-24 from long range and 14-of-19 at the charity stripe.  It had its largest lead of the game at 9-7 early in the first half and would not see the lead again until going in front 79-78 on a three-point bucket from Michael Demers with under five minutes left in regulation.  Luther went up 26-16 midway through the first half and maintained the margin by going into the half up 41-31.

BVU scored the first five points to begin the second half to cut its deficit in half, but the Norse had a quick response of their own by going on  an 11-0 run over the next two minutes and led 52-36.  Less than one minute later, the Beavers had cut the gap down to just seven.  They continued to claw their way back to regain the lead briefly on Demers' three-pointer, Luther (7-13, 3-8 A-R-C) responded with a three-point play to reclaim the lead with two minutes to go.  BVU stayed within four points but missed the final three shot attempts after trailing by only two with 1:18 to go.

DJ McNeal turned in a team-high 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including a trio of three-pointers.  Dominc Sesma and Timothy Jeffries each added 16 points with Jeffries also grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists.  After battling foul trouble in the first half and not taking a single shot, Demers knocked down 4-of-7 attempts from three-point range and chipped in with 14 points.

Buena Vista, now 15-4 overall (6-4 A-R-C) will look to get back on track with a pair of home games next week starting with a match-up against Loras College on Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m.