Connor Winkelman came off the bench and scored a career-high 19 points while David Jeffries and Thomas Wisecup each added 14, and the Buena Vista men's basketball team went on the road and completed the regular season sweep of Simpson College with a 70-60 victory Wednesday night.
Winkelman made 6-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-6 from downtown, while sinking all four free-throws. He scored 12 of his 19 in the first half. Wisecup and Jeffries each came up big in the second for BVU as they scored 12 and 10 in the final 20 minutes. Wisecup was big from beyond the arc in the half, making 3-of-4, as Simpson tried to hang close.
Kennedy Drey was held to only 2-of-10 shooting and six points, but did come up big on the defensive end with 12 rebounds and a pair of steals.
Buena Vista shot 49 percent for the game and made 7-of-17 from long range. It also held a 40-33 edge on the glass despite Simpson holding a 12-2 edge in second chance points.
Simpson held an early 7-4 lead in the early going and that ended up being the Storm's largest lead of the night. Drey sank a pair of free-throws and later added a layup before Winkelman drilled consecutive three-point shots and added a pair of free-throws as BVU opened up a 16-7 lead.
Simpson never let the game get away and slowly chipped away at the lead before taking a brief, 28-27 lead with 2:32 left. Jeffries, however, came back down and gave BVU the lead right back as the Beavers took a 33-28 lead into the half.
The Storm kept things close for most of the second half, but BVU seemed to have an answer every time Simpson tried to pull even or take the lead. The Storm went back in front at 53-52 but that advantage last only nine seconds and the Beavers never relinquished the lead from there.
Wisecup came up with a big three to make it a five-point game with under 5:00 to play as BVU closed the game on an 18-7 run.
The win, coupled with Loras' home loss to Wartburg also on Wednesday, the Beavers (14-7, 10-2 IIAC) now have a two-game lead on the rest of the field with four regular season games remaining. BVU will host the Duhawks (14-6, 7-4 IIAC) on Saturday evening at 6:00pm. Loras has now dropped two straight games following its 11-game win streak.
Saturday is also Alumni Day for BVU. The Beaver alumni will be back in town to face the junior varsity team at 1:30pm.