DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men's basketball team will go for the program's third conference tournament championship on Saturday when they host the Buena Vista Beavers in the American Rivers Conference Championship Game.
 
Match-Up | #1 Univ. of Dubuque (13-0) vs. #2 Buena Vista Univ. (9-2)
Location | Dubuque, Iowa – Stoltz Sports Center
Tipoff | 4 p.m.
Watch | http://udspartans.com/watch
Stats | http://dubuque.sidearmsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary 
 
Series History
-UD is 78-72 against Buena Vista dating back to 1936-37
-The Spartans won the regular season meeting, 76-67, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Beavers.
-In the regular season match-up less than two weeks ago, the Spartans trailed 39-37 at halftime, their only halftime deficit of the season. UD would then go on to outscore the Beavers 39-28 in the second half as Sam Kilburg poured in a team-high 21 points, while Patrick Mayfield added 14 of his own and Peter Ragen and Levi Scheuermann pitched in 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Scouting the Beavers
-In the quarterfinals, Buena Vista routed Wartburg, 96-70 behind 15 made three-pointers. The Beavers would then hang on for an 81-76 win in the semifinals over Central after leading by as many as 19 points.
-The Beavers are chasing the program's eighth conference tournament title since 2000
-Senior Michael Demers paces the Buena Vista scoring at 19.1 ppg, which is good for third best in the conference in 2021.
-Four Beavers in all average in the double figures in points in Zane Neubaum (13.8), Jake Thompson (11.7) and Garrett Sittner (10.5) to go along with Demers.
-Buena Vista comes into the finals with the best three-point shooting defense in the conference, limiting opponents to just 30.7% shooting from distance. Meanwhile the Spartans are the best three-point shooting team in the nation at 44.1%.
-The Beavers also have the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference and the 13^th best in DIII at 1.53
 
UD Quick Notes
-The Spartans are 2-1 in conference championship games, winning their last two appearances in 2013 and 2015, both of which came at home.
-The Spartan defense has stepped their game up in postseason play. After allowing 71.2 ppg game during the regular season, the Spartans have only surrendered 60.5 ppg in the American Rivers Conference Tournament.
-Peter Ragen is averaging 27 ppg in the Spartans two tournament games. He also eclipsed the 1000-point mark on Thursday night, becoming the 24^th member of the 1000-point club.
-UD's trend of getting to the free-throw line more than their opponent has carried over to the postseason. In the regular season UD took 247 free throws to their opponents 205 and in two postseason games they have taken 43 to their opponents 27. UD is also converting at a 75.2% clip from the charity stripe.
-Sophomore Levi Scheuermann is fifth in the conference in field goal percentage at a staggering 60.0%
-Keegan Zimmerman and Patrick Mayfield are currently second and third in the conference in three-point field goal percentage with marks of 51.4% and 50.0%, respectively.