DUBUQUE — The Central College men's basketball team had four players in double figures but a 59-41 halftime deficit was too much to overcome in a 109-92 loss at Loras College Monday night.

Central dropped to 6-10 overall and 3-4 in Iowa Conference play with the loss, while Loras improved to 13-4 overall and 6-2 in league play.

"Some nights you just have to tip your cap to the other team," said coach Craig Douma. "I was really proud of our energy tonight and I thought our guys did a great job fighting. Loras came out and knocked down a ton of shots in the first half and I thought our defense was better in the second half."

Leading the way for the Dutch was senior reserve forward Andre Johnson (Alief, Texas, Hastings HS) with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.

"Andre did a great job of attacking the defense," said Douma. "He was able to come in and knock down shots."

Junior guard Jamel McKnight (Austin, Texas, Hendrickson HS) had 20 points, senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) added 17 points and three rebounds and freshman guard Adam Flinn (Wildwood, Mo., Lafayette HS) provided 10 points off the bench.

"Jamel had a great night offensively with his 20 points and had just one turnover," said Douma. "Adam was able to come in and give us a spark off the bench."

Trailing 68-49 with 15:41 remaining in the game, Central rattled off an 11-0 run to pull within eight but Loras leading scorer Josh Ruggles (37 points) made a layup and knocked down two free throws to halt the Central momentum.

"We spent a lot of energy getting the game down to eight," said Douma. "I thought we showed a lot of resiliency tonight. It would have been easy for our guys to give up but we battled the entire night."

The Dutch return to P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium Wednesday night for a women's-men's doubleheader against league rival Simpson College. An 8 p.m. tipoff is set for the contest and a video webcast and live stats can be found at athletics.central.edu.