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

Jan. 5, 2022 – The Loras College men's basketball team (10-3, 2-2 A-R-C) forced a tight contest from start to finish on Wednesday against Luther College (4-9, 1-4 A-R-C) but the Duhawks could not stop a sharp-shooting Norse offense in the second half as they dropped the first American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) game of the new year, 78-74.

Luther got out to a quick start with a 4-2 lead but a three-pointer by Ali Sabet gave Loras the go-ahead points. Sabet hit another three and Rowan McGowen tacked on two free-throws to put Loras ahead by four points but the Norse found a rhythm and pulled back into the lead, 13-10, with 12 minutes left in the half. Luther held the lead through most of the first half until Declan Ciurlik dished a pass to Cole Navigato for a dunk to lead 22-21 with six minutes to go and force the Norse to call a timeout. McGowen found his lane in the paint for a layup and Sabet added four more points out of the half to extend the lead to seven points with just over two minutes left. Luther answered back to cut the lead to three but Griffen Clark responded with a three-pointer and Jake Healy tacked two more points with a layup before the buzzer to give Loras a 33-27 lead at the half.

The Duhawks opened the second half with a 6-0 win with a three-point play by McGowen and a three-pointer by Myles Barry to take a 12-point lead. The Norse tried to chip away but another three-pointer by Cark helped Loras keep the edge with 15 minutes to play and a layup by Navigato gave Loras its largest lead of the game, 55-41 with just under 12 minutes on the clock. Luther found a bit of momentum with a string of three-pointers that brought them within seven points of the Duhawks with seven minutes to go and continued the run with 11 unanswered points that chewed nearly four minutes off the clock to take a one-point lead with 3:55 left in the game. A pair of free throws by Sabet put Loras ahead 69-68 with 3:20 remaining but Luther took back a six-point lead with 14 seconds left on the clock. Sabet made a driving layup with eight seconds left, drawing a foul near the free-throw line and made his shot to come within three points but a final free throw by Luther sealed the win as time expired.

Sabet had a season-high 23 points and was perfect at the line going 5-5 and added five boards and a steal. McGowen also scored in double digits with 16 points while Jackson Kolinski led the team on defense with six rebounds. Healy had five steals in the win, helping the Duhawks force 20 turnovers but the Norse held the edge from three-point range through the game, shooting 50 percent beyond the arc with a 75 percent shooting performance for a 51-point second while the Duhawks shot just under 30 percent.

The Duhawks return to Lillis Court for more A-R-C action on Saturday, Jan. 8 as they host Central College at 4 P.M.