LINCOLN, Neb. – Loras utilized 20-point performances from Ali Sabet and Jack Haynes en route to winning the program's third American Rivers Conference Tournament title, defeating the top-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves, 85-76, in overtime on Saturday night.

The Duhawks (23-5, 11-5) will be playing in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season after earning the conference's automatic qualifying bid. The 64-team field will be announced on Monday, Feb. 26 at 12 p.m. on NCAA.com.

Sabet ended the game with 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Haynes logged his fourth 20 point-plus game of the season, finishing with 21 points on an efficient 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) shooting.

Jackson Molstead posted 19 points, going 7-of-14 from the field, while shooting 5-of-9 from three-point territory. Declan Ciurlik recorded a career-high 11 assists, a mark that is tied for the second-most in a single game in program history.

Carter Glenn led the Prairie Wolves with 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. Peter Lash and Jack Groeteke each finished with 13 points to close out double-digit scorers.

NWU (23-4, 13-3) raced out to an early 12-3 lead, but baskets by Molstead, Haynes, and Sabet would tie things up at 19-all with 11:46 to play. From there, the two programs exchanged baskets, but the No. 17 Prairie Wolves held a lead up until the 5:13 mark when a layup by Tyler Bass gave Loras its first lead of the game (35-33). NWU would close out the first half on an 11-7 run to lead 44-42 at the break.

Loras kept things close for a majority of the second half, but a 7-0 run by Nebraska Wesleyan gave NWU a 64-56 lead with 5:57 to play, putting the Duhawks in a precarious position. Sabet, however, had other plans as he went on a personal 5-0 run over the ensuing two minutes to bring Loras back within two (64-62) with 4:07 to play.

As time continued to wind down, the two programs went toe-for-toe and exchanged basket-after-basket until Loras was finally able to tie things up at 69 with 1:56 to play. Both teams missed shots on their ensuing possessions over the final few seconds of regulation, leading to overtime.

The Purple and Gold struck first in OT with a basket by Haynes to go up two. Groeteke responded with a layup to tie things back up, but Loras answered with a three by Gavin Sarvis to give it the final lead it needed on the night. Back-to-back baskets by Haynes and a three-pointer by Molstead put Loras up, 81-74, with 1:33 to play, forcing the Prairie Wolves to start to foul. The Duhawks would go on to make its final four free throws to close things out.

Loras shot 29-of-63 (46 percent) on the game, including 14-of-34 from three. Nebraska Wesleyan wasn't far behind, shooting 28-of-64 from the floor (43.8 percent) and 10-of-26 from deep. The two teams were even in rebounds (38-38), but Loras held advantages in assists (22-13), bench points (29-14), and turnovers (9-11).