The Buena Vista men's basketball team stormed out of the gate to a 30-9 lead on Wednesday night and never looked back as it picked up a convincing 82-48 victory over visiting Wartburg College (3-5, 0-3 IIAC).

Junior Doug Bissen scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and also finished with seven rebounds to help lead the way.  Sophomore Troy Ticknor followed with 12 points three assists and three steals with fellow sophomore Wes Nordquist right behind with 11 points and seven rebounds.  Juniors Trent Fisher and Jeff Janssen each gave a spark off the bech with eight points each while Fisher also hauled in six rebounds.

BVU led 8-5 early on before going on a 22-4 run to extend the advantage to 30-9 with nearly six minutes left on the clock.  The Beaver defense was strong during the run, as Wartburg went more than nine minutes without scoring.  The Knights did finish the half strong, using an 11-5 spurt to pull within 15 at the break.

That same momentum from the Knights got them within 10 at 35-25 to start the second, before the bench took the game over for the Beavers.  Kyle Hooks knocked down a pair of jumpers and buried a three-pointer to help spark a 13-3 run over the next three minutes.  From there, Wartburg was unable to get any closer than 15 the rest of the way.

BVU went up 24 on a triple from Ticknor with nine minutes left before a pair of free-throws from Nordquist made it a 31-point led just three minutes later.

The Beavers held the Knights to just 33 percent shooting and out-rebounded them by six (39-33).

It's the largest margin of victory ever for BVU over the Knights.  The previous mark was 33 which was set back in 1947-48 (68-35).

BUV has now won two straight and improves to 3-5 overall (2-1 IIAC).  It returns to action again on Saturday when it travels to Augustana College (Ill.) for a 6:00pm match-up.