STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 9, 2022) - Sophomore Zane Neubaum scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Michael Demers added 19 points and seven assists to help lead the offensive explosion for the Buena Vista men's basketball team on Wednesday night en route to a commanding 106-81 home victory over Simpson College.

Neubaum was aided by a career-high five three-point makes (5-of-6) and matched a career-high with 10 rebounds while posting his second career double-double.  Demers finished 3-of-5 from long range and was 7-of-10 from the field overall.  He moved into sole possession of fifth-place on the program's all-time three-point list with 192 and sits just eight makes away from becoming only the third player in history to reach 200.  His seven assists are one shy of a career-high set back in 2019.

Garrett Sittner chimed in with 13 points off the bench while Gunner Reed registered a career-high 12 off the bench while playing in only his fifth career game.  He played 13 total minutes after coming in having played 18 total minutes over the first four outings.  Jacob Privia just missed out on double figures with nine points while Jake Thompson turned in eight points and nine assists.

BVU had 27 assists on 43 made field goals in the contest and finished the game shooting 52.4 percent overall and a strong 12-of-30 from distance (40 percent).  

The Beavers led the game wire-to-wire but it was just a one-point game at 21-20 midway through the opening half.  Neubaum later hit back-to-back three-point attempts that gave the Beavers their first double-digit lead at 35-23 with 6:35 left before BVU took an 18-point cushion (56-38) into the half.

BVU never slowed down in the second half as the lead grew to 30 with over 7:00 remaining and the team reached the century mark for the second time this season with 5:00 still to play en route.  The Beavers also scored 102 points during a road win over UW-Stout back on November 19.

Tajen Ross turned in a game-high 26 points for the Storm (5-17, 2-11 A-R-C) while Chris Honz and Andrew Curran each added 12.  Simpson shot 50 percent from the field but made 13 fewer field goals than BVU.

Buena Vista improves to 12-11 overall (9-5 A-R-C) and move back into a tie for third with Coe in the league standings after the Kohawks were blown out on the road by Dubuque.  The Beavers also get within one game of second-place Wartburg after the Knights fell at home to Central on Wednesday.  The Beavers and Knights will tip-off at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon inside of Siebens Fieldhouse as BVU goes after the season sweep.