DUBUQUE, Iowa (February 2, 2022) - Senior Jake Thompson scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a game-best eight rebounds and the Buena Vista men's basketball team held off a late charge by the University of Dubuque to hold off the league-leading Spartans 65-60 inside of the Stoltz Sports Center on Wednesday night.

Thompson was 8-of-16 shooting from the field overall and made all three of his free-throw attempts to lead four Beavers who scored in double figures.  Michael Demers, Garrett SIttner and Zane Neubaum each scored 12 points with Demers also grabbing six boards and dishing out a team-leading five assists.  

The Beavers shot 46.9 percent from the field in the contest, including a stellar 58 percent over the final 20 minutes.  The team heated up from downtown in the second half by connecting on 4-9 overall to finish 6-of-17 overall and was also lights out from the free-throw line, making 13-of-15 for the game.

Dubuque shot 42 percent from the field but BVU was able to hold the Spartans to just 6-of-19 from long range and 12-of-20 at the free-throw line.

The game was tied 12-12 early on before Dubuque rolled off eight straight points to take a 20-12 lead midway through the half.  BVU then used a 7-0 charge to get within 20-19 with under 5:00 left in the half but the Spartans finished strong and took a 28-21 advantage into halftime.

The Spartans scored the first two points of the second half to build their largest lead of nine before BVU slowly chipped away and eventually tied things at 39-39 on a Sittner layup with just over 13:00 to play.  Thompson then gave BVU the lead at 44-43 just two minutes later and the Beavers never relinquished the advantage the rest of the way.  Santich got a bucket and a free-throw to complete a three-point play and give Buena Vista its largest lead of the night at 58-49 with just over 4:00 left.  A layup by Demers kept it at a nine-point margin before the Spartans made a late charge and got as close as three on three separate occassions.

BVU was strong from the free-throw line inside the final minute, including a pair of makes from Demers with nine seconds left, which helped snap the Spartans eight-game overall win streak.  It was also the first American Rivers Conference loss for the league-leaders since dropping their league-opener to Wartburg back in November.  Dubuque is now 14-6 overall (9-2 A-R-C) and is one game ahead of the Knights in the league standings and two in front of both BVU and Coe.

Buena Vista improves to 11-10 on the year (8-4 A-R-C) and will travel to Cedar Rapids to play the Kohawks on Saturday afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.  The two teams are currently tied for third in the A-R-C standings with just four games remaining.