Feb. 11, 2023 – A few too many defensive breakdowns on Saturday afternoon sent the Loras College men's basketball team to its third straight loss as it fell 84-74 at home to Nebraska Wesleyan University.

The Duhawks (14-9, 8-6 A-R-C) went cold down the stretch yet again and had no answer for the Prairie Wolves (15-8, 10-4 A-R-C), who completed the season sweep of Loras on Saturday.

Loras and Nebraska Wesleyan went to half tied at 39-39 after the Duhawks trailed early on. The Prairie Wolves applied a lot of pressure and stretched their zone defense out to make life difficult on the Duhawks, who trailed 14-7 early and had little rhythm to their offense.

As the half went on, the Duhawks started to find space, and the shots started to fall. Seemingly everyone was in on the party as Loras got hot from deep and finished the half 9-for-17 from beyond the three-point line. The flurry of long balls even led to Loras leading by as many as six later in the half before heading to the break all tied up.

The second half was all about Nebraska Wesleyan's Peter Lash, and the Duhawks had no answer for the leading scorer in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C). Lash finished with a new career-high 34 points as he torched the nets in the second half, going 5-for-6 from three-point range in to finish 7-for-9 from deep overall.

Lash's presence opened things up for the Prairie Wolves on offense. With the Duhawks trying to keep the ball away from Lash, backdoor cuts led to easy baskets for NWU as the Prairie Wolves outscored the Duhawks 32-22 in the paint.

From the nine-minute mark of the second half until just under the four-minute mark, the Duhawks went without a field goal and saw the NWU lead rise from three to 16, which proved to be too big of a hole to dig out of.

Despite that untimely dry spell, Loras shot the ball as well as it has in any game the last couple of weeks. The Duhawks shot 44.4 percent (12-for-27) from deep, making it the first time they've shot 40 percent or better on three-pointers in their last seven games.

Junior guard Ali Sabet led a quartet of Duhawks that finished in double figures as he tallied a team-high 14 thanks to a 4-for-9 shooting performance from deep. Sophomores Tyler Bass (12), Alex Singleton (10), and junior Declan Ciurlik (10) each scored in double figures as well.

While they didn't reach the 10-point threshold, junior Myles Barry and sophomore Jared Pearson were instrumental for the Duhawks on offense as they each had their turn knocking down important three-pointers during the game.

Loras is in need of a win as it tries to hold on to a top-four seed in the upcoming A-R-C Tournament. The Duhawks travel across town to the University of Dubuque on Wednesday, Feb. 15, for a 7:30 P.M. game with the Spartans.