Contact: Emily Zadny, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

DECORAH, Iowa (Dec. 4, 2019) – The Loras College men's basketball team earned its first American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) road victory on Wednesday and improved to 2-0 in conference play after holding off a second-half comeback by Luther College (4-5, 0-1 A-R-C) for a 66-58 win.

JT Ford started the scoring off for the Duhawks, putting up six points in the first two minutes and a three-pointer and dunk by freshman Ocean Johnson gave Loras a 15-12 lead halfway through the first half. The Norse responded with a three-pointer to tie the game but Johnny Roeser hit a jump shot to put Loras ahead again.

Jordan Matthews hit a jump shot with 10:08 to play in the half that put Loras ahead 19-15 before Healy hit back-to-back shots that sparked an 8-0 run for the Duhawks with 4:49 on the clock. Loras owned its largest lead of the half after Jackson Kolinski made the jump shot following an offensive rebound and the Duhawks held a 36-23 advantage at the half.

Ford went to the line to open the second half for the Duhawks and extended the lead 38-23 in the first minute and two free throws by Jordan Boyd with 14:27 left in the game put Loras ahead 48-34. Luther was not ready to surrender on their home court as Garrian Wade put away a dunk and the Norse's offense went on a 13-4 run to cut the score 51-47 with ten minutes remaining. Rowan McGowen stopped the momentum with a jump shot and Matthews added a layup, but four free throws and a layup for the Norse kept them in the game, trailing 57-53 with under two minutes to play.

Ford entered the game and made a jump shot before Matthews went to the free-throw line to put the Duhawks up by eight points. On the next possession, Luther went to the free-throw line and made two but sent Matthews back to the line to make two more and maintain the eight-point advantage. Luther scored one more layup with 29 seconds remaining, but two free throws by McGowen and one by Matt Dacy-Seijo sealed the win for the Duhawks in yet another down-to-the- buzzer A-R-C matchup.

Matthews tallied 17 points in the win while Ford had 12 to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Cole Navigato also had eight rebounds and Jake Healy had two steals.

The Duhawks (6-1, 1-1 A-R-C) play a second conference road game on Saturday, Dec. 7, traveling to Indianola to face the Simpson College Storm. Tip-off is set for 4 P.M.