DECORAH, Iowa (Duhawks.com) – It was a tale of two halves for the Loras College Men's basketball team Saturday against the Luther College Norse. Lethargic play and poor shooting plagued the Duhawks in the first half, while an energetic and up-tempo team controlled the second half of the game. The attempted comeback came up short as the Duhawks ultimately lost the game, 72-64. Senior Nathaniel Smith, scored 15 points and added six rebounds to lead the Duhawks.

Things began on the wrong foot for Loras as Luther opened the contest on a 9-0 run. Momentum didn't seem to dissipate until about five minutes remaining in the half when Loras managed to cut the lead from 14 to eight. Luther responded right back, with stronger force, capitalizing on two Loras turnovers and a few missed Duhawk shots. Luther finished the half shooting 6-of-7, with their only miss coming on a half-court heave as time expired.

Heading into the half, the Duhawks trailed 34-17. Loras made only seven shots from the field in the half and none from beyond the arc, resulting in a shooting efficiency of just 29 percent.

Coming out of the break, Luther pushed the lead to 20 on a 3-pointer from Aaron Huber. The Duhawks began to chip away at the large lead facing them thanks to an up-tempo approach on Luther's missed shots and an aggressive approach, which forced turnovers.

After grabbing the defensive rebound on the Luther end, Smith took the ball coast-to-coast and sunk his jumper to cut the Luther lead to six with 11:45 to play. Luther countered with back-to-back 3-pointers, which started them on an 11-3 run over the next 4:47 to make it 53-39.

Down the stretch, Loras refused to quit and forced multiple turnovers, but couldn't get over the hump and make it close enough to equalize.
 

Game Changer

The Norse began the game on a 9-0 run and controlled the lead throughout the entire game with the Duhawks never climbing within five points

Key Stat

After not taking a single free-throw in the first half, Luther went to the line 27 times in the second half and converted on 20 attempts, compared to Loras going just 5-of-9

Notables

• The Duhawks shot 21 percent from beyond the arc … It was the second worst performance on the year
• With only four assists on the evening, Loras produced their lowest output for the season
• Loras made their runs throughout the game off Luther turnovers, scoring 13 points off the Norse's 15 flips

Quotable
Buddy Sodemann, assistant coach

"It's never good when you spot a team 17 points, so we need to come out to a faster start and not put ourselves in a hole from the very beginning. We scored 47 points in the second half and 17 in the first, so it's one of those deals where we just can't put ourselves in a hole. If we don't do that, we give ourselves a good chance to win."

What's Next?

The Duhawks (7-10, 2-4) will return home to the Athletic and Wellness Center to face the Wartburg College Knights (10-7, 3-3) on Wednesday night. Wartburg is coming off an 82-76 loss to Buena Vista on Saturday night. Last season the two teams split their season matchup 1-1. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.