STORM LAKE, Iowa (Feb. 1, 2025) - The Buena Vista University men's basketball team returned to Siebens Fieldhouse on Saturday evening to host Luther College for Alumni Day, and the Beavers staved off a late surge by the Norse to hang on for a thrilling 67-65 American Rivers Conference victory.

A pair of made free-throws from sophomore Carter Sievers gave the Beavers their largest lead of the game at 64-54 with 4:53 remaining. BVU then missed its next five shot attempts as well as two free-throws and saw its lead trimmed to 64-61 before a jumper from Sievers with 90 seconds to play bumped it back to five. The Norse made it a 66-65 game with 17 seconds left, and after senior Simon Daniel made 1-of-2 at the line to make it 67-65 BVU, Luther had the ball with a chance to either tie or win the game. The Beavers were able to knock the ball away in what was heavy traffic near the hoop and cleared the ball out as time expired to secure the win. In all, there were six ties and nine lead changes.

Both teams came out and shot over 41 percent from the floor in the first half with BVU making six three-point buckets, but it was the Norse that went into the locker room with a 33-30 advantage. Despite making five more field goals in the second half than the Norse, BVU was unable to pull away as Luther went to the free-throw line 16 times in the half and made 14.

Sievers led the Beavers with 18 points while fifth-year Gunner Reed and sophomore Kyle Sternberg each added 13. Sievers was 6-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-6 from long range. Sternberg also made three shots from distance and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. He and Sievers also combined to go 5-of-5 at the charity stripe while the rest of the team was only 1-of-5. 

Junior Jackson Jones came off the bench and chipped in with seven points and three rebounds in 22 minutes while Daniel scored six and hauled in six rebounds.

Buena Vista was 11-of-29 from beyond the arc and finished the game shooting 39.1 percent from the field overall. Luther connected on 36.7 overall, 19.2 from distance (5-of-26), but made 16-of-19 at the line.

Andres Palavra scored a game-high 29 points and was 11-of-11 at the free-throw line to lead Luther (1-18, 0-11 A-R-C). 

Buena Vista improves to 10-9 overall (5-5 A-R-C) and remains home to host Central College (13-7, 8-3 A-R-C) on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m. The Beavers held off the Dutch earlier this season and is going after the sweep.