STORM LAKE, Iowa (Feb. 5, 2025) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team made a season-high 19 three-point buckets to help the team overcome a 17-point second half deficit and hang on for a thrilling 83-77 victory over visiting Central College on Wednesday night.

Central led 45-38 at the half before a layup from fifth-year Joshua Van Gorp gave the Dutch their largest lead at 55-38 just four minutes into the second half. BVU, which nailed 11-of-19 shots from downtown in the final period, slowly began to chip away starting with a three-pointer from senior Gabe Peterson following Van Gorp's bucket. BVU later scored six straight, including a long range shot from Ned Hayes that cut the deficit into single digits before junior Jackson Jones and sophomore Kyle Sternberg nailed back-to-back treys to pull the Beavers within seven midway through.

The Dutch continued to lead by nine at 71-62 with under nine minute remaining before a quick 10-0 run by the Beavers, that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Peterson and Sternberg, gave them their first lead (72-71) since it was 31-30. Central responded with four straight to lead 75-72 at the five minute mark before Jones sparked a pivotal 8-0 surge that gave the team the lead for good. Van Gorp made two free-throws that pulled the Dutch back within 80-77 with 2:30 to go, but the BVU defense buckled down in the closing minutes, holding the Dutch scoreless. Central had a chance to tie the game late but a three-point attempt was off the mark and Jones came down with a key rebound. He was then fouled with 10 seconds to go and calmly made both free-throws to extend it to a five-point cushion. He then proceeded to come up with a steal at the other end and made 1-of-2 at the line in the closing seconds to finish off the season sweep. 

Jones finished with a career-high 19 points off the bench to go along with five rebounds and four assists. He joined Sternberg and Peterson with four made three-pointers. As a team, BVU finished 19-of-42 from beyond the arc (45.2 percent) which is the most made treys in a single game in head coach Trevor Johnson's six years at the helm. It's the program's highest total since burying 20 against Luther College back in the 2018-19 campaign.

Peterson was 4-of-4 from downtown and scored a career-high 15 points while fellow senior Brody Gish was 3-of-6 from distance and chipped in with 11. The Beavers totaled 51 bench points in the game with those players combining to go 13-of-19 from long range. Sternberg was the only starter in double figures with 14.

The Dutch (13-8, 8-4 A-R-C) shot over 50 percent from the field in the game and made two more field goals than BVU, but were held to just 5-of-21 from behind the arc, including 1-of-10 in the second half. Van Gorp turned in a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds and was 10-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 at the charity stripe. 

Central scored the first six points of the game and led by as many as eight points in the first half. BVU chipped away at the early deficit and took its first lead at 14-12 on a three-pointer from Sternberg. BVU's largest lead of the night was at 22-14.

Both teams finished with under 10 turnovers with Central holding a slight edge on the glass, 34-29.

Buena Vista sweeps Central for the first time since 2021-22 and improves to 11-9 (6-5 A-R-C) this season. The team now travels to the University of Dubuque (15-5, 9-2 A-R-C) on Saturday, Feb. 8, for a 4 p.m. tip-off against the Spartans.