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

INDIANOLA, Iowa (Dec. 7, 2019) – Shutting down its opponent's second half comeback attempt, the Loras College men's basketball team (7-1, 3-0 A-R-C) remains undefeated in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play with an 82-78 win against Simpson College (6-4, 1-2 A-R-C) on Saturday.

The Storm scored early with the opening four points, but Jordan Boyd scored seven of the Duhawks' first eight points and set up Jake Healy for the three-point shot to put the Duhawks ahead 11-7 with 16:21 to play. Simpson chipped away at the Duhawks' lead, cutting the score 24-22 with 9:50 on the clock, but the Duhawks doubled up the Storm on a 20-10 run to extend the lead 44-31 with 3:01 left in the half. Jordan Matthews put up seven points to close the half and Loras carried a 52-39 advantage going into the locker room.

Simpson came into the second half ready to defend its home court, putting up six points and forcing Loras to call a timeout. The Duhawks pulled away from the Storm again off six more points for Boyd to hold a 60-48 lead with just over 15 minutes left to play, but Simpson came charging back yet again and kept the Duhawks scoreless, tying the game 60-60 with 10:37 left on the clock. Loras forced a turnover and JT Ford found Rowan McGowen for the open three-pointer to stop Simpson's run and take the lead. In the final five minutes, Simpson came back to tie the score twice more, but four free throws from Ford gave the Duhawks the edge to come away with a third-straight A-R-C victory.

Matthews had a team-high 21 points, shooting 6-7 from the line and 7-13 from the field and came away with four steals for the Duhawks. Boyd tallied 20 points and McGowen finished the night with 14 points and a team-best 3-5 from beyond the arc. Ford had 11 rebounds and three assists.

The Duhawks return to action on Saturday, Dec. 14 against Adrian College at the St. Andrews Classic, hosted by Trine University. Tip-off in Angola, Ind. is set for 5 P.M. (ET).