The Buena Vista men's basketball team held off another valiant comeback attempt by Wartburg College on Wednesday night, as the Beavers completed the season sweep of the Knights with a 94-84 victory inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.
Junior Nick Clark led all scorers with 25 points, while going 5-of-7 from long range. He also dished out five assists and had two steals. Over the last two games inside of Siebens Fieldhouse, he has scored 42 points and drilled 10 three-pointers in the first half.
Senior Cole Darrow followed with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and also made 4-of-7 at the free-throw line. Sophomore Kennedy Drey chimed in with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Alex Savage turned in eight points and eight assists for BVU which shot 54.5 percent from the field (11-of-28 from downtown) and also made 11-of-16 attempts at the charity stripe.
Defensively, Wartburg outrebounded BVU, 41-36, including a 14-7 edge on the offensive glass.
The Beavers forced the Knights into shooting just 6-of-19 from long range and allowed them to get to the free-throw line just nine times (6-of-9).
Clark helped put BVU out in front from the opening tip, as he had 14 points (3 three's) before the game was five minutes old. Kennedy Drey's basket and free-throw with 12:24 on the clock made it a 27-6 lead.
The lead was still 20 with just over 7:00 left in the first half before a three-pointer at the buzzer from Wartburg cut its deficit to 51-36 at the break.
The Knights carried that momentum into the second half and put a scare into the Beavers, as they clawed all the way back to within two 72-70 with over 8:00 left to play.
Three straight layups from BVU extended the margin back to 78-70 before senior Grady Gallagher pushed the advantage back into double-digits at 83-72 with 6:08 to go. Wartburg just wouldn't go away, rolling off seven straight points and eventually making it an 84-81 contest with 2:10. Senior Greg Sibenaller answered with a layup for BVU, and after a missed shot from Wartburg, Savage put one in for an 88-81 cushion.
Wartburg made just 1-of-4 shots down the stretch, as BVU went to the free-throw line and sank all six attempts, including four by Darrow which secured the team's sixth straight win over the Knights (13-9, 6-5 IIAC).
Buena Vista (16-5, 9-2 IIAC) has now won nine straight games on its own court this season and will now look to go unbeaten inside of Siebens Fieldhouse during IIAC play when it hosts Simpson College this Saturday afternoon in the regular season home finale at 4:00pm.
The Beavers could clinch at least a share of the IIAC regular season crown with a win coupled with a Dubuque loss on the road at Wartburg College. Coe fell two games back of BVU following its home loss to Central.