STORM LAKE, Iowa (Dec. 17) -
Zane Neubaum scored a game-high 28 points and
Gunner Reed added 21 points and 11 rebounds to help lead the Buena Vista men's basketball team to a 98-85 victory over previously unbeaten Bethany Lutheran on Saturday afternoon inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.
Neubaum finished the game shooting 11-of-18 overall from the field while converting 4-of-5 attempts at the free-throw line and scored 20 of his points in the second half.. Reed was 9-of-16 from the field and matched his career-high in rebounds while posting his second double-double of the year.
BVU used the long range shot to its advantage throughout the first half, making 10-of-22 from beyond the arc, including the final one from
Simon Daniel just before the first half buzzer to pull the team even at 44-44 heading to the break. The Beavers cooled off a bit from downtown in the second half (2-of-9) but made up for it in the paint and shot better than 55 percent from the field while also making 10-of-12 at the free-throw line.
The Beavers scored the game's first five points and that was their largest lead of the game until late in the second half. The Vikings would respond with six straight to take their first lead at 6-5, and after the lead traded hands multiple times over the next 90 seconds, Bethany Lutheran used a 7-0 run to build a 17-11 advantage and never trailed the rest of the half. The Vikings led by as many as nine (43-34) with three minutes to play in the half before BVU closed the period on a 10-1 spurt.
Neubaum made a layup and two free-throws to start the second half, and the Beavers never trailed the entire half. It was a 55-55 contest before
Ryan Mendoza capped a 10-0 Beaver run with a layup midway through. The Vikings cut their deficit to 71-67 and were again within five points with 4:30 to go, but Santich hit a three to BVU back up eight before Neubaum slammed down a dunk and made a layup that gave the Beavers an 88-78 cushion with 2:20 remaining. The team then made its free-throws down the stretch and pushed the margin to as many as 15 inside the final 30 seconds.
Freshman
Jackson Jones joined Daniel with a team-leading three made three-point buckets while playing a career-high 30 minutes. He also grabbed three rebounds and dished out a career-best four assists. Daniel finished with 11 points off the bench with
Ryan Mendoza also chipping in 11 points to go along with a season-best seven assists.
Noah Valdez came off the bench and scored eight points over 20 minutes.
Mason Ackley led Bethany Luthean (10-1) with 23 points with Xavier Patterson right behind with 22 points, seven assists and three steals.
Buena Vista improves to 6-5 on the year and will close out the calendar year on Dec. 21, hosting UW-Stout a 5 p.m.
