Men's Basketball Top Kohawks 75-61

Senior Jeff Janssen (Fairmont, Minn./Fairmont) nailed a career-high six three-point shots to finish with 21 points, while junior Wes Nordquist (Adel, Iowa/ADM) converted 9-of-13 attempts from the field en route to another 21 points, and the Buena Vista men’s basketball team, which shot nearly 53 percent from the field in the contest, went on to pick up its first true road victory of the season by knocking off Coe College on Saturday evening, 75-61.

Janssen finished the game shooting 7-of-14 overall and 6-of-10 from downtown, giving him 129 three-point buckets in his career and moving him into ninth place on the program’s all-time career three-point list.  Nordquist was also a force on the defensive end, grabbing eight rebounds, moving him within two of 500 in his career.  He’s averaging 19.6 points and 10.4 rebounds over his last five games.

Freshman Coe Darrow (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) made 4-of-6 shots from the field and posted 10 points, while senior Doug Bissen (Earling, Iowa/Harlan) turned in seven points and hauled in a team-best nine rebounds.

Janssen wasted no time getting in rhythm, burying a long range shot just 11 seconds into the game before hitting his second two minutes later to tie the game at 6-6.

Coe led 14-8 six minutes into the game before Darrow’s layup sparked an 8-0 run, giving the Beavers a 16-14 advantage midway through.  Nordquist then made back-to-back shots to give BVU the lead for good, while Janssen nailed two more three’s to up the lead to nine at 29-20.

The Kohawks pulled back within three, but there was Janssen again, making a layup and his fifth three-pointer of the half to push the margin back to eight at 34-26 with just under two minutes to play in the frame.  BVU led 35-29 at the break.

Nordquist scored the team’s first six points of the second half to give BVU a 41-34 lead, and his jumper with just under 14 minutes to play gave the team a 47-39 advantage.  Michael Elming (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) then gave the Beavers their first double-digit lead (49-39) at the 13-minute mark and the Kohawks got no closer than seven from there.

Bissen made back-to-back shots to put BVU up 11 with six minutes left and the team led by double figures the rest of the way.

After shooting 48 percent and making 6-of-12 attempts from beyond the arc in the opening period, the Beavers didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second half, shooting 57 percent overall, despite making just 1-of-8 from long range. 

The win by the Beavers avenged last year’s season sweep by Coe, including the team’s 78-44 loss inside of Eby Fieldhouse.

David Mataloni scored a game-high 23 points for Coe, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped.

Buena Vista improves to 7-8 overall (3-3 IIAC) and will return home to Siebens Fieldhouse on Monday night, January 16 for an 8:00pm match-up against Loras College (4-11, 1-5 IIAC).

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