WAVERLY, Iowa (Jan. 18, 2025) - Wartburg College went on a 14-2 run early in the second half to break open a two-point game and the Buena Vista men's basketball team was never able to recover as the Knights went on to hand the Beavers a tough 78-65 American Rivers Conference road loss on Saturday evening inside of Levick Arena.

Wartburg jumped out to a 13-5 lead before BVU settled in and chipped away at that margin. Ned Hayes made a key three-pointer that brought the Beavers within two at 16-14 at the 12:20 mark. Fifth-year senior Gunner Reed's layup with 8:02 left in the opening half gave the Beavers a 23-21 lead, but that turned out to be the largest lead for the team in the contest. BVU kept things close the rest of the half and trailed by only four at intermission, 37-33.

Reed brought the Beavers within 40-38 90 seconds into the second half before Wartburg went on its pivotal run to build a 54-40 advantage at the 13:32 mark. A pair of made free-throws from sophomore Carter Sievers ended the run before junior Jackson Jones followed with a layup that made it 54-44. BVU was held to just one made field goal over the next five minutes as the Knights built a 19-point advantage at 66-47. The Beavers were unable to go on any sort of run down the stretch as Wartburg led by as many as 21 and maintained the cushion the rest of the way.

Sievers finished 7-of-7 at the free-throw line and led BVU with 11 points and four assists as Reed followed with 10 points and nine rebounds. Grad student Zane Neubaum, who scored a season-high 39 points on Wednesday night, was held to 3-of-13 shooting in this game and scored only nine points. Jones came off the bench to make 3-of-4 shot attempts and matched a season-high seven points. After shooting 40 percent from the field in the first half, the Beavers cooled off to 28.5 percent in the second. 

The two teams combined for only 13 turnovers with Wartburg holding a slim 39-38 margin on the glass. Marshun Williams turned in a game-high 29 points and hauled in seven rebounds to lead the Knights (10-6, 3-4 A-R-C). The Knights made six three-point shots in each half and shot 46 percent from downtown and 49 percent from the field overall.

Buena Vista is now 9-7 overall (4-3 A-R-C) and closes out the first half of its conference schedule on Jan. 18 by hosting Nebraska Wesleyan inside of Siebens Fieldhouse at 7:30 p.m.