PELLA, Iowa (Feb. 23, 2023) – Just 19 days ago, a lackluster second half against Central College marked the beginning of a four-game losing streak for the Loras College men's basketball team, but Thursday proved that those woes are a thing of the past for the Duhawks as they took down the top-seeded Dutch to advance to the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament championship game.

The Duhawks (17-10) fell victim to the Dutch (18-7) twice during the regular season as Central claimed its first A-R-C regular season title since 2014. Loras was unphased and used a huge start to help them beat the top-seeded Dutch 79-67 on the road on Thursday night.

Fourth-seeded Loras will host sixth-seeded Coe College, which is on a Cinderella run of its own, on Saturday at Lillis Court for the A-R-C Tournament championship. The Duhawk women will play for their tournament title on the road at Wartburg College on Saturday, making Loras the only school in the A-R-C to have two shots at a basketball tournament title this weekend.

The Duhawks couldn't have gotten off to a better start if they tried on Thursday as they sprinted out to a 12-1 lead in the first three minutes of action. Junior guard Declan Ciurlik had already scored 10 points in the game before Central had even made a field goal attempt, which silenced the sizable crowd at the P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.

Loras' lead grew to as high as 18 points in the opening 10 minutes of the first half, but that hot start eventually began to cool off as the half went on. After leading 37-19 with just over seven minutes to play, the Duhawks went without a field goal for the remainder of the half and scored just one point as Central used a 10-1 run to cut the lead all the way down to nine points heading into the break.  

Central got its crowd involved early in the second half as the Dutch chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit down to a single possession. A good chunk of Central's points during that stretch came in the paint as the Dutch totaled 32 points in the lane for the game.

With under five minute's to play, Central's Joshua Van Gorp gave the Dutch their first and only tie of the game with a jumper to make it 59-59 and prompt a Loras timeout.

Out of the break, the Duhawks quickly got out in transition as junior guard Ali Sabet was fouled before connecting on both free throws. Ciurlik then cashed in on a three-pointer and scored Loras' next basketball on a driving layup to extend the lead to five.

Central simply couldn't keep pace down the stretch as missed shots, including a couple from point-blank range, allowed Loras to pull away as the lead extended all the way to 12 with a final steal and slam dunk in transition for sophomore forward Alex Singleton.

All three games of this series for 2022-23 were physical battles. This playoff matchup saw 45 personal fouls called, sending the teams to the free throw line for a total of 62 foul shots. Loras finished at 73.3 percent (22-for-30) on the day while the Dutch shot 59.4 percent (19-for-32).

Ciurlik led the Duhawks with 23 points as he continued to shine bright down the home stretch of the season. He and sophomore guard Tyler Bass were the only Duhawk starters to score in double figures as Bass added 20 points. Sophomore guard Jared Pearson came off the bench to add 10 points for Loras.

In their two postseason games, the Duhawks have not hurt themselves much at all as they have finished each game with less than 10 turnovers (8 on Thursday). They've accomplished that feat seven times this season, but four times in the month of February.

Start time for the tournament championship game on Saturday, Feb. 25 versus sixth-seeded Coe at Lillis Court is still to be finalized. The winner will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.