INDIANOLA, Iowa (Jan. 10, 2023) - Senior Zane Neubaum led all scorers with 31 points on Wednesday night to help the Buena Vista men's basketball team notch a thrilling 94-91 American Rivers Conference road victory at Simpson College.

The Beavers came out and shot over 58 percent in the first half and led 40-28 at the break. BVU continued to lead 69-60 nearing the seven minute mark left in regulation before the Storm heated up from downtown with consecutive made three-point buckets that got them back within 70-68 with 4:37 still to play. Simpson eventually grabbed a 74-72 lead with under two minutes to go. Neubaum later made 1-of-2 free-throw attempts to put the Beavers back on top 76-74 with 21 seconds left. Simpson was able to force overtime with a pair of made free-throws by Easton Darling with 14 seconds left. Gunner Reed's three-point attempt was off target for BVU as time expired.

Reed didn't misfire on the game's first shot attempt of overtime, draining a triple to put BVU on top 79-76 before Neubaum added one of his four long range buckets in the game to push the margin to six. Simpson then came charging back with five quick points before sophomore Jackson Jones drilled a big three-point bucket for three of his career-high 14 points that extended the margin to 87-83 with only 1:19 remaining. After the Storm pulled back within three with just over one minute to go, Jones buried another from beyond the arc to make it 92-86 with 38 ticks to go.

Simpson came back and made a pair of free-throws to get back within four but senior Ryan Mendoza did the same for BVU at the other end to bump the cushion back to six. The Storm got a late three from Andrew Curran that made it 94-91, and they had one final chance after a BVU turnover but a desperation heave from the opposite baseline with only 0.4 seconds left on the clock was off target.

Neubaum finished the game shooting 10-of-15 from the field for BVU, including 4-of-7 from distance, and made 7-of-10 attempts from the free-throw line. Reed followed with 17 points as did freshman Carter Sievers. The duo combined for 11 assists while Reed also grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds. Jones matched his career-high with four made three-point buckets as the Beavers nailed 10-of-25 from deep (40 percent).

Andrew Gibb turned in a team-high 28 points to lead Simpson (7-9, 1-6 A-R-C).

Buena Vista improves to 9-6 overall (2-4 A-R-C) and plays again next on Saturday, Jan. 13, by hosting Wartburg (3-12, 2-4 A-R-C) at 4 p.m.