Loras, 63

Luther, 50

The road to qualifying for an Iowa Conference tournament spot isn't going to be an easily navigated one for Loras as the calendar turns to February, but the men took a huge step in that direction on Thursday night by knocking off Luther College, 63-50, in the AWC. 

The league-leading Norse were held to under 30 points in each half and shot just 36% for the game as Loras limited second chance opportunities and kept the visitors from the free throw line throughout the night. Meanwhile, the Duhawks were building leads in each half.

After trading leads early, the Norse opened a 12-7 lead in the AWC before Josh Bruns put his first stamp on the night with a flurry of seven quick points in a stretch of less than two minutes to tie the game at 14-14. The Duhawks didn't look back from there – holding the 16-14 lead Luke Barry gave the hosts over the final 30 minutes.

At the intermission, the lead was 31-23.

Loras upped the lead to double digits three separate times in the second half and Alex Cline's last free throw made it the largest of the night at 13 points.

Cline finished with eight points, six rebounds, three assists, a block, a steal, and two charges taken. Bruns finished with a team high 11 points in just 14 minutes on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting night. Thursday's starting back court featured Bobby Harmening and Luke Barry for the first time. That duo went 6-for-11 from the field with four steals, six assists total, and seven points each.   

Loras moved up to 2-7 in the IIAC (now tied with both Simpson and Central) and 7-13 overall. They'll host Buena Vista (15-5, 7-2) on Saturday – which doubles as alumni day – at 4:00 PM.