Senior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM) turned in a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while fellow senior Troy Ticknor (Adel, Iowa/ADM) added nine points and three assists, but it wasn't quite enough as Carthage College used a 16-6 run over the final five minutes to get past the Beavers, 63-56, in the first semifinal game of the Johnson Bank Tip-off Classic on Friday night, hosted by Carroll University. The game was the season-opener for both teams.
A free-throw by sophomore Cole Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) gave the Beavers their biggest lead of the night at 48-42 with eight minutes to play before a 16-2 spurt by Carthage put them back up by eight with just over two minutes left. From there, BVU was unable to get any closer than six.
Carthage scored the game's first seven points and led by as much as 20-8 with eight minutes to go in the opening half. The Beavers, who shot just 2-of-20 to start the game, finished the half connecting on 6-of-9 from the field to pull even at 28-28.
The second half was back-and-forth from the start, as neither team led by more than four until Darrow's free-throw and there five different ties during that stretch.
Nordquist shot 4-of-11 from the field in the contest and converted all four of his free-throw attempts. Ticknor, who was playing in his first game in over a year, buried two of his five three-point attempts in 15 minutes of play, and is now in a tie for 11th on the program's all-time list with 123 career three-point makes.
Freshman Nick Clark (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond) made the team's only other three-point bucket and finished with five points and a team-high three steals.
As a team, the Beavers shot under 28 percent in the first half and just under 30 percent from the game. It made only 3-of-18 attempts from long range, but did sink 15-of-18 attempts at the free-throw line (83 percent).
The Red Men, who return four starters from last year's 12-13 team, shot 38 percent from the field for the game and were led by Luke Johnson's 16 points.
Buena Vista (0-1) will now face the loser of tonight's other semifinal game between Concordia-Wisconsin and Carroll University tomorrow afternoon at 1:00pm.