DUBUQUE, Iowa -- The No. 6 seeded Wartburg College men's basketball team (18-9 overall) defeated No. 2 Loras College (18-8) on Thursday 92-89 in the semifinal round of the Iowa Conference tournament. The win advances the Knights to the IIAC finals on Saturday against No. 5 Central.



In the first five minutes of play, the Duhawks held a 13-5 advantage over the Knights. The Orange and Black tied it 25-25 with 7:14 left in the half, but Loras led by 10 points after the period buzzer, 46-36. Wartburg came out strong following the break, taking their first lead of the half, 53-52, at the 15:22 mark. The teams battled back and forth with eight ties and seven lead changes throughout the final half. At 4:14, the Duhawks led 82-77. The Knights refused to back down and took the lead 86-84 with 1:13 on the clock and did not give up the advantage the rest of the game.

Sophomore Jaran Sabus (Urbandale) shattered the previous program record for scoring in an Iowa Conference postseason game with 35 points, his career-best. The previous record was set by senior teammate Jordan Cannon (Bolingbrook, Ill.), who scored 32 points in an IIAC tournament game in 2015. Sabus was 13-15 from the floor, tying the record for most field goals in an IIAC tournament game, and made 9-10 free throws.

Following Sabus' offense was Cannon with 16 points and junior Nate Woeste (Atkins) with 14 points.

Senior Nick Webber (Peosta) tallied a game-high eight assists, which ties the program's IIAC tournament game high set by Jason Steege in 2005, and junior Clifton Brown (Mims, Fla.) recorded a team-high six rebounds.

Saturday will be just the second time in tournament history that a No. 6 team has reached the finals. Luther College was the first to do so in 2014.

The championship game in Pella will begin at 7 p.m.