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

Feb. 12, 2022 – Anyone in attendance at Saturday's American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) men's basketball game inside the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center was treated to an edge-of-your seat display as the Loras College men's basketball team (16-7, 8-6 A-R-C) celebrated head coach Chris Martin's 100th career win in a wire-to-wire Senior Day victory against Nebraska Wesleyan University (13-10, 7-7 A-R-C), avenging its loss to the Prairie Wolves earlier in the week with an 80-79 victory.

Neither team could find a rhythm to start the game until fifth-year graduate student Rowan McGowen drained a signature three-pointer to get the Duhawks rolling three minutes into the game. Fellow senior Cole Navigato added a layup to keep the lead but Nebraska Wesleyan fought back and pulled ahead off back-to-back three-pointers, taking a 17-12 lead with 11:17 left in the half. A pair of free throws by senior Griffen Clark and another layup by Navigato halted the run. Navigato drew the foul on his shot and converted the three-point play to tie it up before senior Jackson Kolinski made another free throw to give Loras an 18-17 edge with 9:30 remaining. Free throws for the Prairie Wolves gave them the narrow lead one more time but senior Jake Healy found an open Ali Sabet for the three-pointer to shift the score back in Loras' favor. Sabet's three sparked momentum for Loras and Healy knocked down another three-pointer to extend the lead 28-23 but Nebraska Wesleyan found a groove again and closed out the half with a scoring burst, taking a 43-40 lead at the break.

Healy started Loras off with a layup to start the second half and come back within one point but the Duhawks had to work to regain the lead. The break came through at the 15 minute mark when Myles Barry found his opening in the paint for the tying layup and Tyler Bass knocked down a jumper to take a 52-50 lead. Sabet and Clark kept it going with a pair of three-pointers and two more from Clark with nine minutes to play extended Loras' lead to the largest of the game, up 71-61.

Nebraska Wesleyan was not done battling, however, and came back within five points in the final minute before calling a timeout. The Prairie Wolves came out of the huddle and made a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game with 11 seconds remaining and added on two more in the final five seconds. A critical miss on the final free throw with three seconds left gave Loras the ball with a one-point lead and the Duhawks grabbed the defensive board, drawing the foul. Sabet went to the line but missed his one-and -one with 0.8 seconds remaining but despite Nebraska Wesleyan grabbing the rebound, a full court shot was not in the cards as the buzzer sounded and the Duhawks came away victorious.

Clark led the Duhawks with 17 points off the bench and Navigato added 16 points. Alex Singleton and Kolinski each added six rebounds each and Healy dished out a team-high six assists. As the score proved, both teams were neck and neck with the Duhawks shooting 48 percent from the field and the Prairie Wolves hitting 47 percent but the visitors' 62 percent shooting from three-point range and 34 rebounds were key in their performance in addition to Nebraska Wesleyan's Carter Glenn leading all scorers with 31 points. 

The Duhawks host their final regular season game inside the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center on Wednesday, Feb. 16 against crosstown rival and American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Champions the University of Dubuque at 7:30 P.M.