DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque Spartans captured a hard fought battle over the across town Loras College Duhawks in Stoltz Sports Center by a 99-91 victory at home. The Duhawks would lead by as many as 10 points in the opening half before UD made a late charge to knot the game up at 41-41. UD's Peter Ragen would be the lone scorer in double digits in the first half with a game high 10 points. Spartan head coach Robbie Sieverding fired up his squad and coached his team to as much as a 19 point lead with 3:24 left in the game. The two teams would spend 20 minutes to finish the three minutes by countless fouls which made the game appear closer in the final tally.

A trio of Spartans would finish with 20 or more points. Patrick Mayfield led with 25 points in 35 minutes of action. He connected on 9-15 attempts from the field and was 6-7 at the free throw line.Peter Ragen added 10 points in the second half to finish the night with 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists. San Kilburg collected 20 points after sinking 8-14 attempts from the field. He had a team high three blocks despite missing about five minutes of action in the first half after a cut to his head kept him briefly on the sideline and he didn't score his first basket until the 7:15 mark. Levi Scheuermann and teammate Keegan Zimmerman narrowly missed double digits with nine points each.

The Spartans would out rebound the Duhawks 38-31 and Avery Butler led all rebounders with nine. Brock Simon found the open Spartans and would lead in assists with a game high six.Team statistics were well balanced among the two squads. Loras led in the game for 18:05 as UD led by 19:13. UD converted the Duhawks turnovers into 14 points while the Duhawks converted just eight points off the Spartans mistakes. UD scored 44 points in the paint, Loras scored 34 points.

"Our guys really played well in the second half tonight," commented coach Sieverding. "Loras has a nice team and I was proud of the way we responded in the second half. Sam had a really good stretch in the second half and Peter and Pat both scored some timely buckets for us. Our guys have really taken care of the basketball all year and it was good to see us with 21 assists and just 9 turnovers. We are excited to keep playing and hopefully we can continue to improve!"

UD moves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the American Rivers Conference standings. The Spartans are receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com Men's Basketball Poll released on February 1.