Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

Mar. 9, 2021 - The Loras College men's basketball team (7-5, 4-3 A-R-C) ended their season Tuesday night as they faced the Central College Dutch (3-3, 3-3 A-R-C) in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament Quarterfinals at Lillis Court. After trailing by ten at the half, a second-half surge by the Duhawks pushed the game into overtime but the Dutch edged the Duhawks 97-95 to advance to the semifinals.

The first half remained scoreless for nearly two minutes before the Dutch struck first on a layup from Sam Beatty in the paint that was immediately answered by Cole Navigato. The Dutch put five straight up on a three-pointer from Adam Flinn followed by a jumper by Kole Tupa. Sharp shooter Rowan McGowen responded with a three of his own, followed by a Myles Barry layup to tie the game back up at 7-7. Jake Healy nailed a three with 13:29 remaining in the half to put the Duhawks up by three but the Dutch clawed back and pulled away by six at the 11:23 mark in the half. A three-pointer from Barry drew the score back to 21-20 but the Dutch once again took a lead after going on an eight point scoring run to go up by 11 points with 5:05 left in the half. The half concluded with the Duhawks trailing by ten at 47-37 going into the second. 

Minutes into the second half, the Dutch extended their lead to 13 on a three pointer from Drew Edwards, but it sparked a comeback by the Duhawks with an and-one layup from McGowen to bring the score to 59-54 in favor of the Dutch with 15:07 left in the half. In the middle part of the half, the Duhawks closed a six point gap with a McGowen three followed by a made free throw from Griffen Clark. Central's Flinn responded with a three but McGowen did the same seconds later to bring the secore to 66-64 with 12:08 left in the second. The Duhawks took their first lead of the half at the 7:18 mark on a good jumper from Jackson Kolinski that was followed by a Caden Mauck layup for the Dutch. The next play, McGowen drew a shooting foul to take him to the free throw line where he missed one and made one to tie the game at 78-78 with 5:14 left in the half. The Duhawks kept with the Dutch through the remainder of the half and took a three point lead on a Navigato layup in the paint but Central scored three straight to close out the half at 89-89 to force the game into overtime. 

Central's Beatty scored the first points of the overtime period for the Dutch but the Duhawks' McGowen put a layup in immediately after to tie the game at 91-91. After two minutes of scoreless play, Tupa hit a jumper for the Dutch to go ahead by two once again. A minute later, Navigato charged the Duhawks down the court and drew a shooting foul, making both free throws to tie the game with 1:39 remaining in the period. After a series of back and forth scoring from both teams, Flinn drove into the paint to make a layup with one second left on the clock, putting the Dutch up by 97-95. After calling a time out to put the Duhawks in better scoring position down the court, McGowen looked to be the hero on a tightly contested shot behind the three point line but couldn't get the shot to make, seeing the Dutch emerge victorious 97-95. 

McGowen led the attack offensively for the Duhawks, shooting 4-11 from beyond the three point line and 8-18 from the field for 24 points on the night. Navigato added 18 points for Loras, followed by Clark who had a stellar performance with 17 points, making five three pointers in the game and pulling down five rebounds. Defensively, Healy led the Duhawks with eight rebounds and a steal while contributing 14 points to the offense. 

The Duhawks conclude their 2021 season with a 7-5 overall record, going 4-3 against A-R-C competition.