The men’s basketball season will be underway next week as they square off at home against non-conference opponent Wheaton College. Wheaton got the best of Loras last year in a 79-63 victory but will be facing a much improved Duhawk team this season.

The Duhawks got off to a slow start at the beginning of last year’s season, which was detrimental to their playoff chances. Things eventually began to click with the the second half of the season, but the hole was a bit too deep.

In their last six conference games last season, the Duhawks went 5-1 to make a push for a playoff spot but found themselves on the outside looking in after a four-team tie break scenario denied them a spot. They finished the season on the heels of a three-game win streak.

This year, the Duhawks will be led by five seniors: Brian Gaughan, Jordan Harrelson, Zack Peterson, Tim Kelly and Dan Pawelski. Pawelski finished last season as the team leader in points and rebounds averaging 11.8 points per game and 7.5 rebounds and received second-team all-conference honors for his play.

Head coach Greg Gorton expects “great leadership” out of these five men, and they have all been elected captains. Kelly and Harrelson also return as two-year starters, and are no strangers to putting up big stats.

IIAC Competition looks to be tough this year. The team everyone hopes to beat this year will be Luther who took home the conference championship last season. The Duhawks were 1-1 against Luther last season.

“Our expectations are a conference championship only,” said Gorton. “We learned a lot about ourselves a year ago and have most of the team back. We have the talent to beat any team in our league.”

The men’s basketball team completed the season series sweep of Coe last week, defeating the Kohawks 70-68 in a game that came all the way down to the last shot.

Going into the game Wednesday night Coe stood one game back in the Iowa Conference standings with an impressive 9-3 record in the league. However, one of those three losses came at the hands of Loras’ 77-65 victory back in mid-January.

The Duhawks have been enjoying success against the top teams in the conference as of late, as they also have beaten conference-leading Luther and the University of Dubuque, which sits in third place. They hoped to continue their success against another strong conference foe as they faced the Kohawks for the last time this season.

The Duhawks came out hot in the first half and opened the game with an 11-0 run. Twice in the half, Loras led by 15 points, as the Duhawks connected on five first-half 3-pointers. Loras went into the locker room with a 8-point lead at halftime.

The Duhawks pushed the lead up to as many as 17 points in the second half, but Coe came on strong toward the end of the game, especially during the last 5 minutes, and the Kohawks cut Loras’ lead down to 2 with a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go.

“It was 35 minutes of some very strong basketball,” said Coach Greg Gorton. “The last 5 minutes, they made a run and we lacked some aggressiveness. They are one game away from a conference championship, so you expect them to make a run.”

The Duhawks also missed all four of their free throws in the last 36 seconds, allowing Coe a chance to win the game. With 4 seconds left, Coe first-year Andrew Wirth, who already had connected on three 3-pointers, threw up the potential game-winner, but it bounced off the rim. Senior Mike Gleason secured the rebound and preserved the 70-68 win.

“We were very good on defense, which leads to offense for this team,” said Gorton. “We played well enough to win at home and continue on our path to the playoffs.”

The win improved the Duhawks record to 9-14 overall on the season and 6-8 in conference play.

“We played hard and responded well to a tough stretch of three games in five days. Our two ‘5 men,’ Danny (Pawelski) and Ryan (Coon), held their starting center scoreless,” said junior Tim Kelly. “Unfortunately, we almost let it slip away at the end. We need to work on finishing games when we have a lead like that.”

Kelly led the team with 18 points in just 23 minutes of play. Gleason and junior Dan Pawelski each added 10 points and junior Brian Gaughan recorded five assists for the Duhawks. Loras also rebounded well, outscoring Coe 12-2 in second-chance points.

“We’re still fighting for our playoff lives at this point, so both games mean everything to us,” Kelly said. “It’s been a crazy year in this league, so we know that we have to be at our best every night.”

The Duhawks travel to play Cornell on Wednesday and then will host Wartburg in their final regular-season game of the season. Both games have become must wins in order to reach the conference playoffs.

“Wartburg has two of the five best scorers in our conference and they beat us fairly easily on their home floor a month ago,” said Gorton. “We definitely will need the student section on Saturday at the AWC to help us.”