NWU Athletics
Alex Linden, Sports Information Director

STORM LAKE, Iowa – After a break of over two weeks, No. 1 Nebraska Wesleyan didn’t show any rust as the Prairie Wolves cruised to an 83-59 victory at Buena Vista University on Wednesday night in American Rivers Men’s Basketball action in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Buena Vista tried to implement a strategy of holding the ball on offense against the NWU 3-2 defense early, but that game plan back fired dramatically as the Prairie Wolves were ahead 13-0 just over four minutes into the contest.

NWU went up 20-3 at the 13 minute mark and the Beavers never had a chance to recover.  The Prairie Wolves extend their school record winning streak to 25 victories as they move to 12-0 overall and 3-0 in American Rivers play.

At halftime, the Prairie Wolves had extended the lead to 47-17 holding the league’s top 3-point shooting team to only one made field goal from behind the arc.  NWU shot over 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes to get the comfortable lead.

In the second half reserves played a majority of the time as NWU maintained a large advantage.  The Prairie Wolves did get loose with the basketball ending the game with 15 turnovers, but the NWU defense was too overwhelming for the Beavers as they committed 27 total turnovers in the game.

Ryan Garver was nearly perfect for the Prairie Wolves on offense going 9-10 from the floor to score a game-high 23 points.  He was 3-3 on 3-point attempts and 2-2 at the free throw line to go along with a team-high eight rebounds, six steals and four assists.

Cooper Cook missed only three shots on the night, going 8-11 overall and 4-7 on 3-point attempts to finish with 20 points and seven rebounds.  The other player in double figures was Nate Bahe who scored 12 points.

As a team, NWU ended the game shooting 56.1 percent from the floor to keep up their nation leading percentage.  NWU was 12-31 from 3-point range and went 7-9 on free throws.

Buena Vista shot 46.5 overall improving their shooting in the second half. They came into the game leading the conference in made 3-pointers but went 7-23 on Wednesday night.   Timothy Jeffries was the only BVU player in double figures scoring 10 points.

Nebraska Wesleyan now prepares for a big matchup on Saturday afternoon when they will host nationally-ranked Loras College in a key conference showdown.