Junior Michael Demers made a career-high five three-point buckets as BVU made 12 overall, and the Beavers rolled to a 96-73 victory over Willamette to begin play on Friday afternoon at 31st Annual Snyder Classic, hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan.
Demers finished with a career-high 21 points as he went 5-of-11 from downtown overall. Fellow junior Lincoln Rock added three treys and turned in 15 points three assists and two steals, senior Timothy Jeffries added his first double-double of the year with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and junior Dominic Sesma chipped in with a season-high 17 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
Willamette scored the game's first four points and hung around throughout the first 10 minutes. Demers' first three-pointer of the game gave BVU its first lead of the contest at 10-9 and another later tied things at 18-18 with 11:30 to play in the opening half. Willamette jumped in front 20-18, but Sesma would go onto score six points during a 14-0 Beaver run that opened up a 32-20 lead. After Willamette cut the deficit down to four with six minutes to play in the half, BVU closed the period on a 19-2 run a build a 53-32 advantage.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Rock and Jeffries quickly spring-boarded BVU to a 59-32 cushion. Demers later hit another triple that pushed the margin to 29 before he made it a 31-point advantage at 67-36 with a layup and 16:51 to play.
From there, it was all Beavers as they maintained the 30-point cushion the rest of the way en route to the 23-point victory.
BVU scored 29 fast break points in the contest and held a 51-32 margin on the glass which led to 24 second chance points compared to only six for Willamette (0-4).
It's the fifth time in seven games to begin the year that BVU has scored at least 90 points, as the Beavers have yet to let an opponent go over 76. The team's margin of victory continues to rank in the top-15 of DIII.
Now at 7-0 overall, the Beavers will look to remain perfect as they close out the Classic on Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. tip-off against the University of the Ozarks, which fell to the host Prairie Wolves, 95-70, in the late game on Friday night.