Buena Vista got off to a somewhat slow start before rallying late in the first half to take a 34-31 halftime lead, but the second half was nearly all BVU which put up 54 points en route to an 88-63 non-conference victory on Friday night.
In the battle of the Beavers, it was the Blue and Gold using the long ball to their advantage in this contest, making a season-high 13-of-27 attempts while Caltech converted just 6-of-27 from beyond the arc.
Sophomore Billy Sparks had the hot shooting from downtown yet again, going 5-of-8 and finishing with a team-high 15 points. His five treys were one off his career-high set in the Iowa Conference opener earlier this season at Simpson. Thomas Wisecup was 3-of-7 from long range and followed with 13 points while Timothy Jeffries added 12 points, five boards and five assists with Canyon Hopkins chipping in with 10 points and six rebounds.
After not attempting a single free-throw in the first half, BVU was 9-of-11 in the second with Caltech going just 9-of-19.
Buena Vista trailed 13-8 midway through the opening half before going on a 17-4 run over the next nine minutes to take a 25-17 lead following a Matthew Goodman put-back. He later gave the team its largest lead of the first half at 34-24 with just over 2:00 left before Caltech closed the gap by scoring the game's final seven points of the period to cut BVU's lead to three at the break.
A pair of steals by the visitors led to layups right out of the gate to start the second half and BVU was quickly back up seven. David Jeffries converted a three-point play to put BVU back up by double-digits at 46-36. Caltech (3-7) got back as close as six at 48-42 but back-to-back three-point buckets by Sparks and Adam Juhl gave the Beavers a 56-42 advantage and they had a double-digit lead for good. It led by as many as 26 with just over a minute to play.
Buena Vista has now won four straight games and improves to 9-2 overall. It looks to continue that momentum on the road January 3 with an 8:00 p.m. tip-off at Iowa Conference preseason favorite Nebraska Wesleyan, which enters its Sunday contest at Grinnell with a perfect 10-0 record.