INDIANOLA, Iowa (Nov. 13, 2022) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team jumped out to a 14-1 lead and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire on Sunday afternoon against Fontbonne University en route to a 90-57 victory.
Junior Zane Neubaum turned in a team-high 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, sophomore Simon Daniel scored 14 points, while junior Mitchell Countryman added 13 points and a pair of steals. Ryan Mendoza and Gunner Reed just missed out on scoring in double figures with nine points apiece with Mendoza also grabbing five boards.
Buena Vista used the long range shot to its advantage by burying 14-of-13 attempts (42.4 percent) while the Griffins were just 1-of-11 from downtown. The Beavers were 41.8 percent shooting from the field overall and 20-of-30 at the charity stripe. Daniel and Countryman each knocked down four treys while Neubaum was 5-of-7 from the stripe.
After the quick BVU start, Fontbonne cut the deficit down to eight at 21-13 but that ended up being as close as the Griffins would get the rest of the way. Neubaum scored a layup following consecutive three-point buckets from Daniel and Countryman that pushed the advantage back to 29-13. The team maintained that advnatage the rest of the half as it reached 21 in the final minute following a pair of made free-throws from Mendoza.
Freshman Jackson Jones, who made his collegiate debut knocked down a three-point bucket that put the Beavers up by 30 for the first time at 76-44 with just under eight minutes. The team's largest cushion came at 85-49 with 4:14 to play. A total of 12 different players scored in the game for BVU.
Caden Clark turned in a team-high 13 points to lead Fontbonne (0-2) which was held to 32.3 percent shooting while turning the ball over 19 times.
Buena Vista improves to 2-0 on the season and will next play at Saint John's University (Minn.) on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.