The Buena Vista men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Wednesday night at home against Luther, and the team snapped its two-game losing skid with a convincing 87-69 victory over the Norse.

Thomas Wisecup went 5-of-5 from downtown and finished with a team-high 17 points, to go along with his eight rebounds and five assists.  Timothy Jeffries drilled 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and followed with 12 points and four assists while Billy Sparks and Connor Winkelman also hit three long range shots apiece to chime in with 11 and nine points, respectively.  As a team, BVU connected on a season-high 18 three-point buckets (18-of-30).  It came in as one of the top three-point shooting teams in Division III.

Matt Goodman was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and scored 10 points off the bench.  David Jeffries chipped in with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists as the Beavers finished with 27 assists on 32 made field goals.

For the game, BVU shot 57 percent from the field and also outrebounded the Norse, 40-26.

Luther was able to stay in the contest by knocking down 12 three-point shots of its own and committing only four turnovers - all of which came after halftime.

The Beavers got an unconventional three-point play to start the game from David Jeffries  before he and brother, Timothy, also hit from downtown to help BVU build an early 11-0 lead.  Luther did not get on the board until the 15:05 mark of the contest while the lead grew to 24-7 midway through.  The Norse settled down a bit and knocked down some shots from outside and closed the half on a 25-14 run to get within six at the break.

Just like it began the game, BVU started the second half on 10-2 run to push the lead back up to 14 at 48-34.  Timothy Jeffries put the team up by 20 at the 13:00 mark.  The Beavers led by as many as 25 in the contest as the Norse were unable to get any closer than 16.

Luther got a game-high 24 points from Jared Nicolaisen, but the Norse fall to 4-12 (0-8 IIAC).

Buena Vista improves to 13-4 on the year (6-2 IIAC) and remains in a three-way tie with Loras and Nebraska Wesleyan atop the league standings at the midway point.  The Beavers now host Simpson College (9-7, 5-3 IIAC) on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.  The Storm fell on the road at Central, 93-87, on Wednesday night.  The loss snapped the team's six-game win streak.