DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The Loras men's basketball team moved to 10-9 on the season and 5-3 in the Iowa Conference following an 84-61 victory over Luther College. Junior Justin VanWambeke set a new career-high in points with 35, besting his previous mark of 34 which was set against Keene State earlier this season. VanWambeke shot 13-of-20 from the field which included a 7-of-11 performance from beyond the arc.

TURNING POINT
Up 53-50 at the 11:19, the Duhawks took off on a 31-11 run to end the game, ending all momentum built by Luther in the second half. This run was sparked by a series of 3-pointers from VanWambeke, who shot a perfect 3-of-3 from deep in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Loras put Wednesday's game in the past during the first half of play on Saturday, outscoring Luther 41-29. VanWambeke and senior Mirko Grcic combined to score 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting to pace the Loras offense.

Freshman Ryan DiCanio scored just three points in the half, but provided the Duhawks with five rebounds and four assists. His defensive prowess held Jack Woolems to two points in the half.

The Duhawks saw success in the first thanks to their deep-shooting. This effort was led by VanWambeke who went 4-of-8 from deep in the first. VanWambeke was closely by freshman Nolan Timp, who tallied two long-balls in the first.

Leyton Bohr was the leading performer for Luther in the first, contributing seven points. Luther found themselves in a hole early, trailing 16-2 with 15:35 left in the half. Loras didn't step of the pedal, taking a 12 point lead into the break. The Norse would got within nine, but a 7-0 run for Loras stifled their efforts.

Second Half
VanWambeke continued to terrorize opponents from the high-post with his patented pull-up jumper. After posting a 16 spot in the first, VanWambeke decided to up the ante, going for 19 in the second to set a new career-high. 

As a team the Duhawks were on fire in the second, shooting 60 percent from the field. Grcic came up huge on the boards for Loras, hauling in six of his eight total in the second stanza.

Defensively, Loras held the Norse to 37 percent shooting in the second, down from 41.4 percent in the first. Loras continued to stifle teams from deep, forcing Luther to shoot 4-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Duhawks limited Luther's starters to 30 points.

Luther made a frantic comeback in the second half, despite never securing a lead over the Duhawks. Thanks to a jumper from Jared Nicolaisen at the 11:55 mark the Norse moved within one score of Loras. From here, Loras closed out the game on a 31-11 run.

FRIEDMAN GROUP PLAYER OF THE GAME
Justin VanWambeke | VanWambeke earns player of the game honors once again, thanks to a career-best performance. With 35 points, VanWambeke secured his fourth straight game of scoring more than 25 points. In that stretch the Duhawks are 3-1.

UP NEXT
Next Wednesday the Duhawks travel to Cedar Rapids to face Coe College for the second time this season. In their last meeting, Loras defeated the Kohawks by a final score of 75-68 thanks to a 24 point, 10 rebound performance from Mirko Grcic.