The Buena Vista men's basketball team put an end to the 2012 portion of its schedule on Sunday evening by cruising to a 75-63 non-conference road victory at Pomona-Pitzer (7-3) and extending its longest win streak since the 2008-09 season to seven games.
Senior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM) turned in a game-high 20 points and also hauled in 12 rebounds en route to his team-leading sixth double-double of the year. Sophomore Cole Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) added 13 points and eight boards, while freshman Nick Clark (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond) buried a career-high four three-point buckets to finish with 14 points. For the second straight game, the Beavers made 10 three-point buckets and are 20-of-47 during that span.
Senior Kyle Hooks (North Sioux City, S.D./Dakota Valley) came off the bench and matched Nordquist with four offensive rebounds, while also dishing out three assists. Fellow senior Tyler Pleiss (Omaha, Neb./Ralston) led the way with a career-high four assists, as BVU dished out 19 on 28 made field goals.
The game was tied 7-7 in the early going and again at 15-15 with 9:31 left to play in the first half. The Sagehens took a narrow 23-20 lead with under five minutes remaining before a basket and two free-throws from Nordquist put BVU back on top at 24-23. Pleiss and sophomore Brett Heitkamp (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) each made layups before senior Troy Ticknor (Adel, Iowa/ADM) made one of his two three-point attempts to extend the lead to eight (31-23) near the one-minute mark.
A three-pointer at the buzzer from Darrow then gave the Beavers their largest lead of the half (36-29).
Despite seeing its lead dwindle down to just two less than four minutes into the second half, BVU, which shot better than 45 percent from the field during the game's final 20 minutes, got a pair of three-pointers from Clark over an 11-2 spurt to build a 49-38 lead with 14:22 left.
Another triple from Clark pushed it to 13 minutes later, and the lead eventually reached as high as 23 with 10 minutes to go after a pair of Darrow free-throws. The Sagehens tried to hang tough getting back within 14 with just less than five minutes to play, but Nordquist's hook shoot in the paint put BVU back in front by 16 and P-P was unable to get any closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Defensively, BVU out-rebounded the Sagehens, 42-35, and has now out-rebounded its opponent in 9-of-11 games this season.
The win moves the Beavers to 8-3 overall, and also closes out their non-conference slate. The team returns to action on Saturday, January 5, 2013, when it hosts Simpson College in the Iowa Conference opener. Tip-off inside of Siebens Fieldhouse is set for 4:00pm.