PASADENA, Calif. (Dec. 19, 2023) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team wrapped up its West Coast trip on Tuesday afternoon by dialing it up from downtown as it rolled past Caltech inside of Braun Gymnasium, 88-42.

Senior Gunner Reed flirted with a triple-double by registering 18 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dished out five assists. He was 8-of-10 from the field despite going just 1-of-5 at the free-throw line. Senior Zane Neubaum turned in 11 points and hauled in eight boards while freshman Carter Sievers was a team-best 3-of-5 from long range en route to 11 points. Senior Michael Santich added a pair of treys and finished with 10 points and five assists.

As a team, the Beavers finished 16-of-32 from beyond the arc and shot 54.8 percent from the field overall. Eleven different players knocked down at least one shot from distance while 13 different players scored in the contest. 

Reed set the tone out of the gate by putting BVU up 3-0 in the opening minute before senior Ryan Mendoza connected on two from long range and junior Christian Stanislav added a fourth to make it 12-0 with only three minutes gone by. Junior Simon Daniel got himself into the mix with his only make from downtown that made it 21-9 midway through the opening half ad BVU went on to build a 41-24 advantage at the half when Sievers hit one from downtown on the team's final possession of the period.

Reed came out and scored six of the team's first nine points of the second half as the margin grew to 20 with three minutes gone by. From there, the Beavers continued to pull away, leading by as many as 45 over the final 90 seconds. The team finished with 23 assists on 34 made field goals.

BVU was equally as tough on the defensive end by out-rebounding the Beavers (1-9) by 14 and held Caltech to only 28 percent shooting.

Buena Vista improves to 8-4 on the year and played its final game of the calendar year. The team will play an exhibition game at Wayne State on Dec. 30 before returning to American Rivers Conference play on Jan. 3 by hosting Loras College at 7:30 p.m.