STORM LAKE, Iowa (January 28, 2021) - Freshman guard Zane Neubaum scored a career-high 24 points  to lead a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures and the Buena Vista men's basketball team used a big second half offensive performance to break the game open en route to an 88-72 victory over Simpson College on Thursday night.

It was a back-and-forth game during the first half with neither team able to go on much of a run and widen a lead.  BVU managed to go in front by as many as nine in the half at 33-24 before Simpson cut into that lead to make it 39-34 at the break.  Simpson pulled even at 39-39 to begin the second stanza, but then it was virtually all Beavers from there.  Sittner connected on back-to-back treys while Neubaum added another to make it 52-41, and that put BVU in front for good.

In just his second collegiate outing, Neubaum went 10-of-13 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from long range, and added a pair of dunks.  Seniors Michael Demers and Garrett Sittner each followed with 17 points while junior Jake Thompson scored 11.  Demers also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out three assists with Sittner chipping in with a team-high eight boards and four assists.  Thompson dished out a career-high five helpers as the Beavers chalked up 28 assists on 33 made field goals.

Buena Vista shot 52.4 percent from the field (14-of-33 from long range) and led by as many as 22 points with just over five minutes to play.  BVU forced just 11 turnovers but turned those into 14 points compared to only four points off turnovers for the Storm.

Collin Lister turned in a game-high 30 points to pace Simpson with Chris Honz adding 16.  The Storm (0-3, 0-1 A-R-C) shot 40.6 percent from the field and did make 10 from downtown.

The Beavers improve to 2-0 (2-0 A-R-C) and will look to keep the perfect start going when they host Loras College (1-1, 0-0 A-R-C) on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.