Back inside of Eby Fieldhouse for the first time since winning last year's Iowa Conference Tournament Championship game, the Buena Vista men's basketball team came out and ended the first half of this year's IIAC schedule with a big 70-64 triumph over Coe College (10-8, 3-4 IIAC) on Wednesday night.
Sophomore Cole Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) turned in a team-high 15 points followed by senior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM), who turned in his 11th double-double of the year with 13 points and 13 rebounds. He also matched a career-high with five assists. Nick Clark (Fort Dodge, Iowa/St. Edmond) came off the bench and turned in 11 points, including a team-high three three-pointers.
Coe scored nine of the game's first 11 points before C lark buried back-to-back three-pointers to help spark a 13-2 run over the next seven minutes to give BVU a 15-11 lead. A layup by Clark later pushed the margin up to six before a pair of Darrow free-throws gave the Beavers a 32-25 advantage with under three minutes left in the half.
Coe finished strong, scoring six of the final eight points of the half to get back within 34-31 at the break.
Four quick points to start the second half for BVU pushed the lead back to seven and the team maintained that cushion until Coe got as close as 48-46 with 11 minutes to play. BVU stayed in front the rest of the way, but couldn't push the lead past five until the final minute. Coe, which shot only 36 percent in the second half, got as close as 59-58 with 2:18 remaining.
The Beavers, who converted 10-of-10 at the free-throw line in the closing minute on Monday against Central, made all six of their attempts in the final 30 seconds of this one to help secure the win.
The team shot right at 51 percent from the field and improves to 8-2 on the road this season.
The Beavers close out the first half of the IIAC season at 13-5 overall, 5-2 IIAC and will look to make it three wins on the week when they entertain the Dutch on Saturday night inside of Siebens Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm, and it will also be Community Appreciation Night with all Storm Lake Community members admitted to the game free of charge.