CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Since the inception of the conference tournament, the championship game will see two teams meet for the first time with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship will see the fourth-seeded Loras College (17-10, 9-7 A-R-C) and sixth-seeded Coe College (15-12, 7-9 A-R-C) collide for the title game.
 
The Kohawks advanced to the semifinal round after upsetting No. 3-seed Nebraska Wesleyan 78-60 on Tuesday night. Coe once again pulled of an upset as they defeated the No. 2-seed University of Dubuque (19-7, 12-4 A-R-C) 78-73. Loras punched their ticket to the championship game by defeating the top seed and regular season champions, Central College (18-7, 13-3 A-R-C), by a score of 79-67.
 
No. 4 Loras 79, No. 1 Central 67 – BOX SCORE

The Loras Duhawks were led with three double-digit scorers in tonight’s semifinal game in Pella, Iowa. Declan Ciurlik led the team with 23 points, followed by Tyler Bass with 20 and Jared Pearson with 10. It was a team effort as Myles Barry recorded a team-best three steals while dishing out three assists and Ali Sabet joined Barry also dishing out three assists. Alex Singleton was the leading rebounder for the Duahwks, pulling down seven rebounds.
 
The games leading scorer hailed from the Dutch in Joshua Van Gorp with 36 points. Additionally, Van Gorp had a game-high 11 rebounds while adding three blocked shots. Joining Van Gorp in double-digit scoring was Drew Edwards who tallied 10 points.
 
No. 6 Coe 78, No. 2 Dubuque 73 – BOX SCORE

The Coe Kohawks also had three double-digit scorers with TJ Schnurr leading them all with 22 points. Following closely behind was junior guard Cael Schmitt with 20. John Steffen rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Schnurr also led the Kohawks on the boards, pulling down nine rebounds. Schmitt added four assists and two steals to lead the team.
 
Dubuque had four players scoring in double-digit figures with Keegan Zimmerman (18), Brock Simon (13), Sam Kilburg (11), and Dylan Anderson (10). Along with scoring 10 points, Anderson also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. Kilburg dished out six assists, while Simon and Jaylin McCants recorded two blocked shots apiece on the defensive end.
 
The 2023 A-R-C Championship game will be held at Lillis Court on the campus of Loras College Saturday, February 25th with a tip time to be confirmed tomorrow. Loras is making their fourth conference tournament title game and first since 2019. Coe is making their fourth conference tournament title game appearance and first since 2020. The Duhawks will fight for their third conference tournament crown in program history while the Kohawks look to make history, bringing the first conference tournament title in program history back to Cedar Rapids.
 
The winner of Saturday’s A-R-C Tournament Championship game will receive the league’s automatic qualifying bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament. The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday, February 27^th at 11:30 p.m. (CT) on NCAA.com.