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

Jan. 28, 2021 – The Loras College men's basketball team (2-1) commanded the court in the opening half of the home opener against Rockford University (0-2) on Thursday evening and held off an unrelenting Regents' offense in the second half to defend Lillis court, securing a 97-90 victory led by a career performance and double-double by senior Cole Navigato.

Rockford took the lead to open the game until back-to-back three-pointers from Zach Deering put Loras ahead 11-7 in the first five minutes. The lead continued to grow thanks to another pair of three-pointers from Declan Ciurlik and Griffen Clark and soon became a 35-18 lead with a layup from Navigato with 7:47 left in the half. The Duhawks extinguished any glimmer of momentum for the Regents in the first half as back-to-back three-pointers from Drew Wollenshlager, a layup from Myles Barry and a pair of free-throws by Jake Healy situated the Duhawks with a 57-30 lead at the half.

Jackson Kolinski opened the second half scoring for the Duhawks with a free-throw and Navigato drove the lane for a layup to put double up the Regents, 60-30. Rowan McGowen, Nick Savage, and Ciurlik helped extend the lead 66-32 with 15:28 left to play but Rockford found a spark to score 13 points in the next three minutes to cut Loras' lead 68-45. A layup for Navigato brought the run to a halt for a moment until the Regents regained control and posted eight more points to close the gap, 72-56. Once again, Navigato helped the Duhawks build back the lead and Deering added a layup to give Loras a 75-56 lead with 9:25 remaining, though Rockford was not done fighting and came back to cut the score to six points, 87-81 in the final four minutes. A pair of free-throws from Healy and Navigato and another layup for Navigato started to shift the momentum in favor of the Duhawks and held off the Regents' offensive attack from beyond the arc to come away with the 97-90 win as time expired.

Navigato led all scorers with 27 points and came up big for the Duhawks on defense with 11 rebounds, eight coming on defense, for his first career double-double while Ciurlik tallied 12 points and Healy and Clark both added 11. Healy added a team-high two steals and was a perfect 7-7 at the free throw line while Barry had three assists on the night. Though the Regents' valiant 60-point scoring effort in the second half headlined their side of the stat sheet, the Duhawks shot nearly 50 percent from the field and just under 80 percent at the line.

Loras returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 31, beginning American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play at Buena Vista University. Tip-off is set for 4 P.M. in Storm Lake, Iowa.