Jim Leffew (Vero Beach, Fla./Vero Beach) scored 17 points and Dimonde Hale (Northland, Ohio/Northland) scored 16 but Buena Vista (Iowa), powered by 29 points from Wes Nordquist, managed to hand the Big Red a 73-69 loss at the Land of Magic Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Denison trailed by one at the half but that ballooned to a 10-point deficit early in the second half after a Kyle Hooks basket put the Beavers up 46-36 with 16:36 to play.  Hale would respond with a basket in the paint off an inside feed from Marr Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Central).  That field goal would spark at 14-3 Denison run over the next six minutes, eventually giving the Big Red their first lead of the second half, at 50-49, with just over 10 minutes to play.

That lead would be pushed out to six with 5:47 to play when Brett Tiberi (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night.  Buena Vista would answer with a triple on their next trip down the floor, trimming that DU lead back to three.

Down the stretch the Big Red failed to pull away and Buena Vista's Hooks made the play of the night when he stole the ball from Hale and raced to the other end of the floor to put his team in front, 68-67 with 1:11 to play.  On their next possession, Leffew, who connected on five previous 3-point attempts, missed and the rebound went out of bounds and was awarded to Buena Vista with 53 seconds left.

Leading by one, Buena Vista ran the clock down to 27 seconds and that's when Hooks got free for another big layup, lifting his team to a 70-67 lead.  With one last chance for Denison to tie the game, the Beavers got a crucial steal and would close out the game by making 3-of-4 free throws, setting the final at 73-69.

Leffew finished with 17 points while going 5-of-9 from long range.  He also added three assists.  Hale scored 16 points and had a team-high six rebounds and Mike Garabedian (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) followed with 14 points.  Mansfield reached double figures with 10 points in 23 minutes off the bench.

Nordquist was 12-for-19 from the field and 5-for-8 from the free throw line, leading to his 29 points.  He also contributed 15 rebounds for the Beavers.

As a team, Buena Vista held a 45-31 advantage on the glass and shot 46 percent from the field compared to Denison's 39 percent.  The Big Red fall to 4-7 with the loss but will look to rebound Wednesday night when they take on Lebanon Valley at 8 p.m. in their final game from the Land of Magic Classic.