STORM LAKE, Iowa – Nate Schimonitz broke his own freshman school record with 36 points but it wasn't enough as Nebraska Wesleyan's attempt to move into first place in the IIAC men's basketball standings came up short with Buena Vista holding off the Prairie Wolves 80-75 in a makeup game on Monday night (Jan. 30) in Storm Lake, Iowa.
 
Buena Vista now evens up the season series and remains in first place in the IIAC standings at 9-2 in conference play, while NWU drops back down to third place at 7-4 and 13-6 overall.
 
The Prairie Wolves never got their offense going in the loss as they were held 20 points under their season scoring average.  NWU trailed 32-31 at halftime and shot below 30 percent from the floor in the first half.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan began to get on track in the second half, mainly behind the outside shooting of Nate Schimonitz.  Being dared to shoot from beyond the arc, Schimonitz stepped up to the task finishing with a career-high six 3-pointers.
 
NWU built up a seven point lead twice in the second half with the last at the 9:41 mark.  NWU maintained the lead for the next five minutes but BVU went on a run.  With the Wolves up 67-62, the Beavers outscored NWU 11-3 to retake the lead.  The Prairie Wolves made only two field goals in the final 6:33 until the final 20 seconds.
 
BVU maintained a 75-72 lead late in the game as neither team could convert.  Ryan Garver missed 3-point attempts on back-to-back possessions as NWU was finally forced to foul with 22 seconds left.  Sean Morgan calmly went to the line and hit a pair of free throws to put BVU up by five points.
 
Needing to score quick, Schimonitz came down the floor and rained a 3-pointer to pull NWU within 77-75 and 16.9 seconds left.  After a foul, the Beavers made two more free throws to extend the lead to four points with 10.4 remaining.
 
NWU had a 3-point attempt by Nate Bahe from the corner that was no good and the long rebound was called out of bounds off the Prairie Wolves that sealed the win for BVU.
 
Buena Vista shot 50.8 percent from the floor as a team and had a balanced attack with six different players scoring in double figures.  All five starters scored in double figures, led by Kennedy Drey with 15 and seven rebounds.  The Beavers also held a +8 advantage on the glass.
 
NWU made 14 3-pointers in the game, but shot just 34.1 percent making 14-41 attempts.  They were 37.9 percent on all field goals in the game as the shooting was 50 percent in the second half, compared to 27.8 in the first half.
 
Schimonitz provided the majority of the scoring with his 36 points on 12-26 from the field and 6-15 on 3-pointers.  He was 6-6 at the free throw line and added four assists with three steals.
 
The only other player in double figures was Cooper Cook with 13 points making 3-6 from 3-point range.  Deion Wells-Ross had a solid game with 13 rebounds, eight points and seven assists.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan now returns to Snyder Arena with three straight home games to begin the month of February.