DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Loras College men's basketball team began American Rivers Conference play with a 90-74 victory over last year's regular season league champion, Coe College, on Tuesday evening inside the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center.
The Kohawks controlled a majority of the first 10 minutes of the contest, erasing the brief one-point lead by the Duhawks (7-6) with a 17-6 run to hold their largest advantage of the night (23-13).
A pair of free throws by
Jared Pearson at 8:36 put Loras (4-1, 1-0 A-R-C) back in front (25-23). The Purple and Gold extended their lead to as many as nine multiple times over the rest of the first half and went into the locker room up 46-40 at the midway point.
Coe (2-3,0-1) erased the deficit with an 8-2 run to tie things up at 48-48 just over three minutes into the second half. The Kohawks took a brief 50-48 lead following a layup by Cole Hrubes, but the Duhawks responded with back-to-back buckets from
Nolan Berendes to regain the lead (53-50).
Loras used a 22-5 run to take the largest lead of the night (75-55) and never let the visitors get any closer than 13 points (75-62).
Not only did
Tyler Bass score a game-high 25 points, but with his second basket of the night became a part of the 1,000-point club. The Washington, Ill. native shot 8-of-15 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe on his way to joining the 46 other Duhawks who have achieved this accomplishment.
Pearson finished in double figures as well, tallying most of his points from the foul line (16-of-18) to go along with one three-pointer to total 19 points on the night.
Jack Haynes rounded out the double-digit scorers with his second double-double of the season, which featured 14 points and 10 boards. As a team, Loras shot 38.5 percent (25-of-65) from the field and made the most of its trips to the free throw line, shooting 81 percent (34-of-42).
Bennett Sherry paced the Kohawks with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Deuce Walters followed closely behind with 16 points of his own. Cooper Nailor added in 11 points to wrap up the double figure performers for Coe. As a team, the visitors shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the floor and 58.8 percent (20-of-34) from the foul line.
Up Next: The Duhawks travel west to Waverly, Iowa to take on the Wartburg College Knights in a midweek conference showdown on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside Levick Arena.
