Wartburg College pieced together a late rally against Loras in Iowa Conference men’s basketball action but it fell short Tuesday, Feb. 10, at Knights Gymnasium in Waverly. The 71-62 loss to the Duhawks dropped the Knights to 15-6 overall and 9-4 in the league, while Loras improved to 13-9 and 7-7.
Wartburg concludes its final homestand of the 2003-04 regular season against Simpson Friday, Feb. 13, and Central Saturday, Feb. 14. Friday’s tipoff is slated for 8 p.m., while the meeting with the Dutch Saturday begins at 6 p.m.
Loras opened a six-point and five-point margin in the opening half but, in each instance, head coach Dick Peth’s unit answered the bell and came right back. Wartburg ended the opening frame on a 5-1 run for a 31-29 halftime lead as senior guard Matt Armentrout drained a trey and junior forward Alan Johnson connected on two charity tosses.
Wartburg held the advantage until the 15:28 mark of the second half. A three-ball by the Duhawks’ Jimmy Ernst with the scored tied at 41-41 opened an 8-0 run that gave Loras a lead it would never relinquish. The lead widened to nine in the final four minutes before the Knights made another move.
Junior guard Jordan Atchison, the team’s top scorer with 15 points, dropped in a long three-pointer and was followed by sophomore Rance Cartmill hitting from outside the arc to trim the score to 64-60 with 1:16 left. After the Duhawks hit one of two free throws on their next possession, Cartmill tried to move the home team even closer but his three-pointer bounced off. Loras’ J.R. Redovan hit six consecutive free throws in the final 50 seconds to seal the win.
Atchison’s 15-point, three-assist evening was followed by Cartmill’s nine-point, two-steal effort. A pair of sophomores, center Nate Schmidt and forward Joel Formanek, joined Johnson with eight points each.