Gibson Berns | Staff Writer

Siebens Fieldhouse was packed for the Buena Vista Unviersity (BVU) Beavers’ IIAC men’s semi-final game against the Knights of Wartburg. The number one seeded Beavers, who had defeated Wartburg twice already this season, would have their hands full Thursday night.

With a score of 41-35 at the half, the first half went in the Beavers’ favor for the most part, winning both on the scoreboard and when it came to field goal percentage. Junior Nick Clark led the way for the Beavers with 11 points at the half and sophomore Kennedy Drey would add 10 points and nine rebounds. For Wartburg, Jordan Cannon had 17 points at the half going 7-11 from the field; this would not be the last time Cannon would severely impact the game.
The Beavers shot five percentage points better than the Knights (47% compared to 42%). The Beavers took their 6-point lead into the second half looking to make it to the championship game on Saturday.

The second half would be a different story, however. Wartburg started the second half on a 9-0 run. Wartburg would maintain the lead all the way down to the 4-minute mark, when the Beavers took a 76-74 lead. They would not stop their run there, as they would cap off a 24-4 run with 2-minutes left.

With 30 seconds left and the Beavers up by one, senior Alex Savage took a fading 12-foot jumper and would get nothing but net putting the Beavers up by three, 84-81. Wartburg’s Cannon would get the ball and hit a highly contested three-point shot to tie the game at 84 points each. The Beavers would have two attempts to win the game, but senior Cole Darrow came up short on a pull up and Drey missed a half court shot at the buzzer.

Going into overtime, Cannon led the Knights with 29 points and Clark led the Beavers with 27. Wartburg’s Nick Woeste shot two free throws to put the Knights up by four with 2:30 left in overtime. With the game at 91-88 and the shot clock running out, Cannon missed a shot with five seconds left and Clark came up with the rebound. After a Beaver timeout, Wartburg intentionally fouled and Clark missed both free throws. Wartburg made two more free throws to subsequently end the game at 93-88 in favor of the Knights.

For the Beavers, Clark finished with a team high of 27 points and Drey added 16 points and a game-high of 19 rebounds.

For the Knights, Cannon lead with 32 points and Nick Webber added 24. Wartburg outshot the Beavers from both the field and the three-point line.

Wartburg plays Dubuque for the IIAC Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday after Dubuque defeated Coe 71-59 in the other semi-final.

Photo by Krystal Schulte