Men's Basketball | 2/24/2020 1:42:00 PM

STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 24, 2020) – For the second time in three days, the Buena Vista men's basketball team will face Simpson College, as the two sides are set to tip-off against each other on Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament.

Game Details
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 | Storm Lake, Iowa | Siebens Fieldhouse
No. 5 Simpson College (13-12, 7-9 A-R-C) at  No. 4 Buena Vista (18-7, 9-7 A-R-C) | 7 p.m. WATCH | LIVE STATS

Last Time Out
The Buena Vista men's basketball team was held to a season-low 29 first half points against Central College on Wednesday night, but the Beavers stormed back early in the second half by draining seven three's in the first six minutes to eras an 11-point halftime deficit and turn it into a seven-point lead.  The Dutch were able to get back as close as four late in regulation but BVU closed strong en route to its 10th home win of the year.  Junior Michael Demers finished with four treys and posted a team-high 22 points.

Series History
BVU has a long history with Simpson College. It started in 1921-1922, with a victory for Simpson at 22-12. BVU holds the edge all-time against Simpson at 75-71. In the 2018-2019 season, Simpson won both meetings for its first sweep of the Beavers since 2011-12.  The Beavers, however, earned an 87-76 victory earlier this season inside Siebens Fieldhouse.  

About Simpson College
Simpson College has played 24 games this season and moved back to .500 at 12-12 following a big 86-59 upset victory over sixth-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday. after having lost four of its previous five games. The win kept the Storm tied with Wartburg for a chance at the sixth and final spot into next week's A-R-C Tournament.  Conor Riordan is the  team's leader in scoring, and is currently ranked third in the conference at 20.0ppg.  Adam Reiter is ninth in scoring at 15.4ppg, second in rebounding at 8.8 and leading the way in field goal percentage (.627).  During conference play alone, the Storm are scoring an average of 75.6ppg while also allowing that same mark.  They're shooting just under 34 percent from downtown and at 45.4 percent overall.  Riordan is making just less than 2.0 per game from beyond the arc, is second in the league in assists per game (4.3) and is tops in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.3).

About Buena Vista
The Beavers are back into the conference tournament following a year in which it missed out in the event for the first time ever.  Despite falling to the Storm to close out the regular season on Saturday, the team has won three of its last five contests overall down the stretch.  It enters the tournamnt after averaging 87.3ppg during the regular season.  In both losses down the stretch, the Beavers were held under 80.  The team is shooting right around 50 percent from the field over the course of the last month and has made at least 10 three-point buckets in four of the seven games played in the month of February.  Senior Timothy Jeffries leads the team and ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 17.8ppg.  Junior Michael Demers has pushed his average up nearly two points to 15.2ppg over the last 10 games and ranks just outside the top-10.  He has been one of the hottest shooters from long range as of late, making 33-of-76 from distance (43.4 percent) over the last nine games and is second in the A-R-C in makes per game (2.8) and third in percentage for the year (.378).  BVU has captured seven conference tournaments all-time and is going after its first title since 2012.