DUBUQUE, Iowa – The No. 6 seed Wartburg men's basketball team took down No. 3 seeded Loras College 79-74 Tuesday evening to advance to the American Rivers Conference semifinals.
The Knights, now 12-14 overall, will face No. 2 seed Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Thursday, Feb. 27. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. from Kohawk Arena.
Senior guard Camry Moore of Waverly led the Orange & Black with a career-high 21 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Both teams made 27 field goals on the night, while the visiting Knights shot 50 percent (7-14) from long range and led 34-21 in rebounds.
"It feels really good," Moore commented. "I didn't want this to be my last game and didn't want it to be my last practice the day before. I just wanted to come out and do whatever I could to get us the win."
Wartburg shot well from the field in the first 20 minutes, converting 15-27 attempts. The Knights opened the contest on an 8-2 run through the first three minutes and didn't let go of their lead throughout the half.
With under a minute remaining, a Jack Molstead jumper gave Wartburg its largest lead of the half at 33-25, in which the Knights carried into the locker room at the break.
Just over three minutes into the second half, a Ryan Stulken three-pointer capped an 8-5 run. However, the Duhawks responded with a run of their own and eventually gained their first lead of the game at the 9:37 minute mark with a layup to claim a 49-48 lead. Consecutive baskets from Broden Coulter then gave the Knights the lead back, at 53-49.
Loras was only able to knot the score at 60-60 with 5:12 remaining, its closest attempt at breaking the Knights. Wartburg played steady defense and held on to at least a three-point lead in the final minutes en route to the victory. The Knights made 17-21 free throws in the second half.
Behind Moore's stellar performance, Molstead added 12 points along with 10 from Tyler Zumbach. Stulken was a point and a rebound shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds. Max Smith Drahos tallied five assists.
"We know we haven't played our best basketball yet this year," said Moore. "The message is just to go out and play the way we know we can and we'll be just fine."
