Maggie Ramold | Sports Co-Editor

The Buena Vista University (BVU) men’s basketball team opened up their season this weekend traveling to Augsburg College on Friday, Nov. 15 and on to Gustavus Adolphus for a Saturday contest.

On Friday, the Beavers lost the game in overtime 97-95. Junior Cole Darrow led the offensive attack with a game high 34 points, while junior Alex Savage chipped in 14 points and dished out seven assists.

“Friday’s game against Augsburg was an exciting first game of the year, it went into overtime and even though we lost, we showed a lot of positives throughout the game,” Darrow said.

The Beavers took on Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday and came up short 82-69. Darrow continued to lead the offensive attack with 16 points and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Savage and junior Greg Sibenaller each contributed 13 points, while junior Grady Gallagher had a career-high 11 points.

“Against Gustavus, we played well, but they had an outstanding shooting game. We came up short in that game as well,” Darrow said.

Although the Beavers’ weekend didn’t turn out exactly as they would have liked, Darrow was impressed with what he saw and is excited to see how the team will continue to improve.

“We are a fast and athletic team and throughout the year we will be able to beat teams by running the floor and scoring in transition. We have the ability to score a lot of points extremely quickly,” Darrow said.

Gallagher is also quite optimistic about the season, especially after the team fixes a few kinks that come with the beginning of the season.

“We need to develop an attitude and swagger that portrays more confidence on the floor. I think this team has big time potential if we can keep improving,” Gallagher said.

The team’s main goals for the season are to continue the tradition of finishing first in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC), winning the IIAC conference tournament, and then making a deep run into the National Tournament.

“I think this team will be really fun to watch, especially in transition. We have a lot of great passers that can make things happen when we get out and run,” Gallagher said.

The Beavers will take the court again this coming weekend for the UW-Oshkosh Tournament. BVU will take on Clarke College at 5:00 p.m.

Graphic by Grace Bodey