STORM LAKE, Iowa (January 26, 2022) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team returned home to Siebens Fieldhouse on Wednesday night looking to complete the regular season sweep of Nebraska Wesleyan, but it was the Prairie Wolves rallying late in regulation to force overtime before holding on for a thrilling 90-88 victory.

The Beavers had the ball and a 78-74 lead after Garrett Sittner made a pair of free-throws with 44 seconds left following a technical foul by the NWU bench, but the Beavers would eventually turn the ball over with 33 ticks left.  Peter Lash, who turned in a game-high 27 points, pulled NWU within 78-76 with 15 seconds left, and then coming out of a timeout, the Prairie Wolves would force a jump ball on the inbounds pass to regain possession under their own basket.

BVU was called for a foul on the shot attempt off the inbounds pass and the Prairie Wolves would sink both free-throw attempts to tie things up at 78-78 with eight seconds remaining.  The Beavers had one final chance and got the ball down low but was called for traveling with 1.2 seconds still on the clock.  NWU had a final chance but its shot attempt at the buzzer rimmed off.

The Prairie Wolves scored the first four points of the extra period to go up 82-78 and never let go of the lead.  I was a 9-85 advantage with 15 seconds to go before Sittner drilled a three to make it 90-87 with just eight seconds to go.  After a quick foul by BVU on the inbounds, the Prairie Wolves missed both free-throw attempts and the rebound went out of bounds off NWU.  The Beavers had one final chance with 6.1 seconds left and drove down the near side of the court and put up a three-point attempt which was coming up short, and Jacob Privia tipped in the miss but after a discussion by the officials, the basket was waived off.

Sittner led the Beavers with 19 points, including 3-of-6 from downtown and 8-of-10 at the charity stripe.  Michael Demers and Jake Thompson each posted 17 points with Thompson also adding five rebounds and seven assists and Demers hauling in five boards to go along with five assists.  Michael Santich was also in double figures with 11 points as BVU shot right at 50 percent for the game overall.  The Beavers also made 27 free-throws compared to just 16 for the Prairie Wolves.

The game featured eight ties and 11 different lead changes with neither team leading by more than six in the contest.

Nebraska Wesleyan improves to 11-7 overall (5-4 A-R-C) with the win while the Beavers dip to 9-10 overall (6-4 A-R-C).

Buena Vista will look to snap its current two-game skid on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Luther College (5-11, 2-6 A-R-C) at 4:00 p.m.  It will also be Alumni Basketball Day for the Beavers with special halftime presentations being held to honor the 1962, 1997 and 2002 conference tournament championship teams.