It has been two weeks since the Buena Vista men's basketball team was last in action, but that didn't slow down the Beavers, who overcame an early 14-point deficit to capture their sixth straight victory with an 86-79 non-conference victory at the University of Redlands on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Troy Ticknor (Adel, Iowa/ADM) led all scorers with 20 points, including a 4-of-8 effort from downtown and 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. He also tied for the team lead with eight rebounds. Sophomore Cole Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) followed with 18 points and tallied a career-high eight rebounds.  Freshman Nick Clark (Ft. Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond) added 13 points, while senior Tyler Pleiss (Omaha, Neb./Ralston) was also in double-figures with 10 points.

As a team, BVU connected on 10-of-24 attempts from downtown (42 percent), while shooting 44 percent overall.  The Beavers also made 26 free-throws, while the Bulldogs attempted only 22.

Defensively, the Beavers held the edge on the boards by out-rebounding Redlands 52-42.

The Bulldogs led 15-6 in the early going and by as many as 14 (28-14) with eight minutes to play in the first half.  Ticknor, as well as junior Michael Kaufmann (Harlan, Iowa/Harlan), made a three-point bucket, while sophomore Brett Heitkamp (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston) added a bucket, and BVU had clawed its way back within 33-29 with under a minute to go.  The Bulldogs buried a late three-pointer and took a 36-31 lead into the break.

Darrow then scored six points during a 13-2 BVU run to start the second half and give the Beavers a 44-38 advantage.

A bucket from senior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM), followed by a pair of free-throws from Ticknor pushed the margin to 10 midway through the half before a three-pointer from Ticknor gave the team its largest lead of the game with under 10 minutes to play. 

Kyle Hooks (North Sioux City, S.D./Dakota Valley) sank a pair of free-throws near the four-minute mark to give BVU its largest lead of the contest (73-58) before the Bulldogs went on a 16-5 run over the next three minutes to climb back within four.

Clark then buried one of his two three-pointers in the game to put the Beavers right back up by seven and Redlands got no closer than five over the final 45 seconds.

With the win, Buena Vista improves to 7-3 on the year, while Redlands drops to 7-4.

The Beavers will close out the 2012 portion of their schedule on Sunday, December 30, with a 4:00pm PST tip-off at Pomona-Pitzer (7-2).