Buena Vista converted all eight of its free-throw attempts in the final minute on Wednesday night, and never trailed in the second half, while hanging on to top visiting Wartburg College, 65-58.

Junior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM) matched a season-high with 16 points and recorded his first double-double of the year with 10 rebounds.  Senior Doug Bissen (Earling, Iowa/Harlan) turned in another solid performance, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds, while fellow senior Michael Elming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) connected on a pair of three-point baskets to tally 10 points off the bench.

Wartburg, which led the league in rebounding at 41 per game, was out-rebounded by the Beavers in this contest, 41-34.  Of that total for BVU, 15 came on the offensive end.

BVU jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the early going only to see Wartburg go on a 12-0 run and take a 20-16 lead with just less than seven minutes to go in the half.  The Knights continued to lead 27-23, but six made free-throws in the closing minute for the Beavers tied things up heading into the break.

A jumper from senior Trent Fisher (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) capped a key 12-2 run to start the second half for BVU and give the team a 41-31 lead with five minutes gone by.  A bucket and free-throw from freshman Cole Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) then matched the team's largest lead of the night (12) a minute later, as the team continued to lead by that same margin at the midway point of the half.

Wartburg, which shot right at 40 percent from the field in the second half, then stormed back to within three, but that wound up being as close as it could get the rest of the way.  A pair of free-throws by Jordan Sathoff, who's the league's leading scorer, kept the Knights within three as late as the 45-second mark, but the Beavers, who made just 17-of-25 attempts at the charity stripe, made all eight when it counted most down the stretch.

BVU shot 50 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes and finished at 38.6 percent overall.  Defensively, it also forced 19 turnovers and held its second straight opponent to under 60 points.

Sathoff led all scorers with 20 points for Wartburg, which fell to 4-5 overall (1-2 IIAC).

With the win, Buena Vista improves to 3-5 overall (1-1 IIAC).  It also runs its home regular season conference mark under Coach Van Haaften to a stellar 116-15.

The team will step back onto its home court this Saturday as it plays a non-conference contest against Northwestern College (IA).  The junior varsity teams will take the floor first at 5:30pm, followed by the varsity game at 7:30pm.