DUBUQUE, Iowa (Jan. 8, 2025) - In a battle of the remaining two unbeaten American Rivers Conference teams on Wednesday night, the Buena Vista University men's basketball team came up short on the road at Loras College (10-3, 4-0 A-R-C) by a 92-83 margin.
BVU came in riding a four-game overall win streak this season but ran into a Duhawk team that was leading the league in scoring at over 86 points per game. It was a four-point Loras advantage at 67-63 with 8:11 remaining before the Duhawks tallied back-to-back and-1's followed by a traditional three-point basket to spark a 9-0 run that made it 76-63.
Loras led by as many as 15 before sophomore
Kyle Sternberg, who turned in a career-high 18 points, buried a three-point bucket that brought the Beavers back within six at 84-78 with still over two minutes to play. The two teams then went scoreless for nearly two minutes before a made jumper and two made free-throws for the Duhawks pushed their lead to double digits with under one minute left. Loras, which made 20-of-23 at the free-throw line in the game, went perfect inside the final minute and didn't allow BVU to climb its way back.
Fifth-year senior
Gunner Reed tallied a team-leading 19 points and six assists to go along with eight rebounds for Buena Vista with Sternberg right behind with his 18 points and nine boards. Sophomore
Carter Sievers matched Sternberg with three made treys and tallied 14 points while senior
Zane Neubaum and senior
Simon Daniel chimed in with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Buena Vista shot a season-high 53.8 percent from the floor and was equally as efficient from downtown by making 10-of-20. It finished the game going 17-of-22 at the free-throw line, including 12-of-14 in the second half alone.
Loras was right there with BVU all night long, making 53.3 percent from the field, 8-of-20 from beyond the arc, and 20-of-23 from the line. BVU did have 12 turnovers compared to only six for the Duhawks which led to 19 points off those turnovers.
Alex Singleton was 10-of-12 shooting for Loras and 8-of-8 at the charity stripe, en route to a game-high 28 points. Gavin Sarvis made four three-point buckets and added 22 points.
Buena Vista is now 8-5 on the year (3-1 A-R-C) and returns home on Saturday to host the University of Dubuque at 4 p.m.
