MANKATO, Minn. (November 12, 2019) - The Buena Vista men's basketball team connected on 13 first-half three-point buckets and led by 20 at the break before hanging on for a 92-76 non-conference road victory on Tuesday night over Bethany Lutheran College.

Senior Timothy Jeffries led five Beavers who scored in double figures with a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds.  He made a team-high four three-pointers and connected on all eight of his free-throw attempts.  Junior Michael Demers (15pts), sophomore DJ McNeal (14pts) and junior Dominic Sesma (11pts) each made a trio of three's.  Senior Noah Schmitt chipped in with 10 points and also grabbed three boards.

The Beavers finished 18-of-39 from long range and have now made 29 treys in just two games to start the year and are shooting 42 percent.  The team used the sizzling start in this contest to build a 56-36 halftime lead.  That margin grew to 31 less than three minutes into the second half before the Vikings slowly started making a charge.

After just five turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, BVU  has 12 in the second half which allowed Bethany Lutheran to cut into that cushion.  Bethany Lutheran, which knocked off Simpson 106-102 in its opener last Friday, got as close as 14 with under five minutes to play, but that was as close as the Beavers allowed them to get.

The two sides combined to shoot 39 free-throws in the contest with BVU going 14-of-19, and the Beavers were also tough on the glass by out-rebounding the Vikings, 44-30 and improving to 6-0 all-time in the series.

Four players also scored in double figures for BLC, led by 20 points from Brian Smith, as the team shot 46 percent overall.

Buena Vista is now 2-0 for the first time in three years and will look to stay in the win column when it tips-off its home schedule on Friday night, hosting Westminster (Mo.) at 8 p.m. as part of the SLIAC/A-R-C Challenge.  Simpson and Fontbonne will play the early game at 6 p.m.