Since the 2020-2021 season Buena Vista Men’s Basketball has been one of the better teams in the American River Conference. After a second-place finish in the 2020-2021 conference tournament the Beavers have found themselves right in the mix to make a run at the conference title again. A big part of that hunt is sixth Year Senior Guard Garrett Sittner. Sittner, a three-year member of the Beavers has been an integral part of the team’s success the last two seasons, especially this season coming off of the Beaver bench.

“I kind of like coming off the bench,” said Sittner.

Sittner also proved just that after dropping 38 points in a game against conference rival Wartburg College. That game gave Sittner his first career Conference Player of the Week during is time wearing his Beaver jersey. But this season did not start that way for him.  After an early season injury, Sittner came back shortly after the Christmas break and since then has been able to provide that same spark off the bench for the team.

Head Coach Trevor Johnson said “Getting Garrett back from his injury was really a turning point in our season. He is a huge piece of what we do on the offensive end and is the guy who has consistently made the toughness plays late in games for us this season.”

Sittner’s biggest game of the season was that Wartburg Game but during that week of games he averaged of 25 points per game and was able to help lead the Beavers two some big wins in conference play.

According to Coach Johnson, “Garrett gives us a huge spark off the bench that not many other teams in the league are not able to match. He is a guy that can come in at three different positions for us and help stabilize things for us on the floor as we begin to rotate guys through. Having a guy like Garrett who can come off the bench and average around 15 points per game in conference is a luxury and is going to be a big piece of whatever we accomplish going forward.”

When looking forward to the rest of the season Sittner said “We just need to take it day by day and come into practice and work hard, but we also need to realize even though a team is at the bottom half of our conference they are still a college basketball team and can beat anyone on any given night.”

The Beavers were also able to take that same mindset into a matchup against conference rivals Luther on Saturday January, 29^th where they were able to pull out a 63-to-48-point victory.

Coach Johnson is also on the same page as Sittner stating, “We are in a position where we simply have to take things one game at a time. The year has not gone according to plan; however, I think that everyone within the program still understands what this group is capable of achieving. We have shown that we can play with and beat anyone in this league already this year. We have to make sure we approach each game with great focus and discipline going forward. If we can do that, I think we have a chance to be in a very good position heading into the postseason.”

The Beavers are on the road against Conference foes Dubuque and Coe before returning to Siebens Field House to take on Simpson College on February 9^th.