David Jeffries turned in a career-high 34 points to lead four starters in double figures for Buena Vista on Wednesday night, and the Beavers held on in the end for a big 91-79 home victory over the University of Dubuque.
The Spartans, last year's IIAC regular season champions, led 42-41 at halftime after BVU jumped out to a 24-12 lead only seven minutes into the contest. Dubuque slowly clawed its way back with a 15-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 27-26 with under 8:00 to go.
Jeffries made a pair of three-point shots to give BVU a 36-32 advantage, but the Spartans responded to close the first half on a 10-5 spurt to lead by one at the break.
The teams traded baskets early in the second before a Thomas Wisecup three-pointer helped spark an 11-1 run by the Beavers who went up 58-47 with five minutes gone by. Jeffries added two more three's in the run and finished the game going 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.
A jumper by Jeffries and a pair of free-throws from Owen Statlander pushed the margin up to 13 at 62-49 with 13:30 to go, and the Beavers virtually maintained that double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Spartans got as close as 69-61 on a three-point bucket from Jamaree Atwater with less than eight minutes in regulation, but Jeffries halted things with another three of his own to make it 72-61.
Paul Gallagher, who converted 6-of-6 at the free-throw line in the game, hit two big ones with under 3:00 to go to make it a 14-point advantage. BVU had one of its better free-throw shooting nights of the year, made 10-of-12 over the final four minutes to secure it fifth straight victory in conference openers.
Jeffries made 11-of-14 from the floor and also went 6-of-9 at the free-throw line. Scoring wasn't all he did in the game, as he also hauled in seven rebounds, dished out three assists and recorded a pair of steals.
Kennedy Drey turned in his third double-double of the year, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, pushing him past 600 career rebounds. He made 7-of-12 from the field and also matched a career-high with six made free-throws.
Thomas Wisecup chimed in with 11 points and set a new career-high with nine assists. He now has 16 assists in his last two outings. Paul Gallagher set a new career-high with 13 points and also dished out two assists.
BVU shot 55 percent from the field, including a stellar 11-of-17 from downtown. The team came in having made only 14 three-point shots combined in the first three games (14-of-50).
Defensively, they held the Spartans (1-2, 0-1 IIAC) to only 23 percent from long range (7-of-30) and 40 percent from the field overall.
Buena Vista improves to 3-1 on the year (1-0 IIAC) and will look to make it two straight victories to begin IIAC play when it travels to Nebraska Wesleyan (5-1, 0-1 IIAC). The Prairie Wolves suffered their first loss of the year on Wednesday at Wartburg College.