DUBUQUE, Iowa (March 13, 2021) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team built a double-digit lead late in the first half of Saturday's American Rivers Conference Tournament championship game at seventh-ranked Dubuque, but the Spartans used a late run in the first half and again in the second to win the championship over the Beavers, 78-64.

Senior Michael Demers scored 17 of his team-leading 24 points in the first half to help BVU build a 14-point lead at 43-29 with 2:41 left in the half.  The Spartans connected on a pair of three-point buckets down the stretch of the half which sparked a 9-0 run to pull back within five at the break.

It was a back-and-forth start to the second half as the Beavers were able to push their lead back up to nine off a Jacob Privia layup nearly five minutes in.  The Spartans slowly chipped away at that lead despite both teams going cold throughout the middle part of the half.  Dubuque trimmed the lead down to 56-55 with 10:49 remaining before neither team scored for the next three minutes until Dubuque pulled even at 56-56 with 7:31 to go.

Brendan Gary gave the team the lead back briefly off a made free-throw and after a three-point from Dubuque gave the Spartans the lead back, Michael Santich responded with a trey of his own to give the Beavers a 60-59 lead.  

A layup from the Spartans on the next possession gave them a 61-60 lead, and they followed that with three straight long range buckets for a 70-60 margin and only 4:12 left on the clock.  Dubuque extended the lead to 14 minutes later and BVU was unable to get any closer than 12 over the final minutes.

Demers was 10-of-15 from the field overall and made 2-of-3 from downtown.  Freshman Zane Neubaum followd with 10 points while Jake Thompson added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

After going 8-of-16 from distance in the first half, BVU was held to just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half.  The Spartans, meanwhile, went 14-of-27 for the game while shooting 51 percent from the field overall.

Patrick Mayfield led four Spartans in double figures with 22 points, including 4-of-6 from downtown.  

Buena Vista closes out its COVID-19 shortened season at 9-3 overall.  The game also marked the final one in the careers of seniors Ryan Radke, Brendan Gary and Joe Lind.