SUPERIOR, Wis. (Dec. 5, 2023) - Senior Zane Neubaum turned in a game-high 32 points and grabbed six rebounds while fellow seniors Gunner Reed and Michael Santich added 18 and 11 points respectively, but the Buena Vista men's basketball team came up just short on the road Tuesday night, 82-79, against UW-Superior.

Neubaum finished 10-of-23 from the field and buried 5-of-11 from long range while sinking all seven attempts at the free-throw line. Reed was 7-of-11 from the field and fell one rebound shy of a double-double. Santich was 4-of-5 from the charity stripe, added seven rebounds and dished out a four assists.

As a team, the Beavers delivered on 11-of-25 from beyond the arc and also made 14-of-17 free-throw opportunities while shooting 44 percent from the field overall.

The Yellowjackets came out and made seven first-half three-point buckets and shot nearly 49 percent from the field overall. The game was back-and-forth throughout before a late surge to end the opening half put UW-Superior in front 41-30 with less than two minutes to play. Three free-throws from Neubaum with one second left brought BVU back within nine at the break.

Neubaum nailed a pair of three-point buckets to begin the second half and made it a one-point game with less than two minutes gone by. BVU was unable to get any closer the rest of the way. The Yellowjackets eventually pushed the margin back up to as many as nine midway through.

BVU hung around down the stretch, getting a three-point make from Reed with seven seconds left to make it a three-point game. After the Yellowjackets missed a free-throw with six seconds left, the Beavers had one final chance to tie the game and force overtime, but Ryan Mendoza had his three-point attempt blocked with under three seconds as UW-Superior held on for the three-point non-conference win.

Buena Vista is now 5-3 on the year and will host Luther College (3-4, 0-3 A-R-C) on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 4 p.m. inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.