DECORAH, Iowa (Jan. 4, 2023) – A close, physical game went the way of the Loras College men's basketball team on Wednesday night as the Duhawks outlasted the Luther College Norse 85-73 on the road.

The Duhawks (10-3, 4-0 A-R-C) earned win number 10 on the season and their eighth in a row behind a strong second half performance against the Norse (3-10, 0-5 A-R-C). By staving off Luther, Loras now sits atop the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) standings as the only team without a conference loss yet in 2022-23.

The Duhawks are also first in the league in scoring, averaging 83.2 points per game after Wednesday night's performance.

The first half could only be described as a shootout as Luther took a narrow 43-41 lead into the break. Both sides shot better than 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes that saw 17 lead changes and five ties.

That back-and-forth action continued early in the second half as the game saw a total of 22 lead changes and nine ties.

Junior guard Declan Ciurlik helped keep the Duhawks in it as he sank three of his four three-point attempts in the first half, pacing all scorers with 11 in the period.

The Duhawks finally started to pull away from the Norse toward the midway point of the second half. A pair of free throws by Ciurlik with just 14 minutes left to play served as the final lead change of the game, giving Loras a 54-53 advantage.

Those free throws started what would become a steady 16-4 scoring run for the Duhawks that saw the lead extend to 11 points with close to 8:30 remaining in regulation. The Duhawks were 6-for-7 from the field during that run, which served as the turning point of an otherwise tight matchup.

From there, the Duhawks never let the lead dip below eight points as they maintained their lead and connected on important free throws late to earn a 12-point win, which was the largest lead of the game for either team.

Junior guard Ali Sabet led the way for four Duhawks that finished in double figures as he totaled a game-high 21 points. Sabet got tested by Luther's Myke Shed on defense, but Sabet came out ahead with an 8-for-17 shooting performance from the field. Sabet finished the game ranked third in the A-R-C with 19.3 points per game.

Ciurlik finished with 17 points as junior guard Myles Barry tallied 12 while adding three assists. Sophomore guard Tyler Bass added eight points and eight rebounds while sophomore forward Alex Singleton came off the bench to contribute 13 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.

As a team, Loras finished 29-for-54 (53.7%) from the field, marking the fifth time this season it shot 50 percent or better.

The Duhawks will look to extend their winning streak to nine games on Saturday, Jan. 7 when they face Central College at 4 P.M. in Pella, Iowa.