LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Wesleyan was held to its lowest point total of the year and suffered their first loss of the season as Buena Vista came into Snyder Arena and shot past the Prairie Wolves 91-75 in Iowa Conference men's basketball action.
 
BVU remains undefeated in IIAC play at 3-0 and improves to 10-2 on the season, while NWU drops to 11-1 and 2-1 IIAC and falls from the ranks of one of only seven undefeated teams that were left in NCAA III heading into Wednesday.
 
The Prairie Wolves looked like they might run away with the game at the start as NWU jumped out to a 18-5 lead less than five minutes into the game.  The Prairie Wolves made seven of their first nine shot attempts and were off and running.
 
However, BVU didn't panic and the Prairie Wolves shots stopped falling.  Nebraska Wesleyan still held a double digit lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half at 34-22.  From there, the Beavers ended the first half on a 20-3 run to take a 42-37 halftime lead into the locker room.
 
Unlike other games in the past where NWU has put together big second half performances, this time it was BVU that was on top of their game.  The Beavers would get ahead by as many as 21 points in the 2^nd half as they continued to shoot over 50 percent.
 
NWU tried to make a couple small runs, but each time the Beavers responded.  The Prairie Wolves cut the lead to 13 points with 3:28 remaining, then David Jeffries scored four straight points to end any late minute comeback.
 
As a team, the Prairie Wolves shot a season-low 36.4 percent, after coming into the game making over 50 percent as a team.  The Prairie Wolves were only 8-33 from 3-point land for a season-low 24.2 percent.
 
Buena Vista made 50.8 percent of their shots, only the third time this season NWU has allowed a team to shoot over 50 percent.  The big reason for the high percentage was the fast break points scored by the Beavers.  BVU outscored NWU 30-10 on fast break points, out dueling the Prairie Wolves at their own game.
 
Four players scored in double figures for BVU led by Timothy Jeffries with 19 points.  David Jeffries scored 18 with five assists and Billy Sparks came off the bench with 15 and five assists.  Connor Winkelman also cracked double figures with 11 points.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan was led by Ryan Garver who scored a career-high 24 points.  Garver hit 5-10 from 3-point range as the Beavers were daring him to shoot the outside shot.  Deion Wells-Ross scored 15 points with nine rebounds and Cooper Cook had 13 points and six rebounds.
 
The Prairie Wolves, who lead all levels of basketball in assists averaging over 23 a game, had only 10 in Wednesday's contest.
 
NWU will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 6) when they host Luther College in another IIAC matchup.