DUBUQUE — When it comes to the Iowa Conference tournament all bets are off and Thursday night proved that once again as the No. 6 seed Central College men's basketball team knocked off the No. 2 seed Loras College 113-108.

For the third consecutive year and fourth time in five years, Central will play in the Iowa Conference tournament championship. Central travels to league champ Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln Saturday for a 7 p.m. game. The Dutch were swept by Nebraska Wesleyan in the regular season, 99-86 at Pella Dec. 6 and 104-80 at Lincoln Feb. 14.

Central was also swept by Buena Vista and Loras, but sidelined the third-seeded Beavers Tuesday at Storm Lake 84-70 before pulling a second upset Thursday night.

"We played a great game tonight and I couldn't be prouder of our guys," said coach Craig Douma. "We showed a lot of toughness tonight and we got contributions from a lot of different guys tonight."

Central point guard Jamel McKnight (Austin, Texas, Hendrickson HS) poured in a career-high 31 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and iced the game knocking down 13-of-14 free throws. McKnight dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds as well.

"Jamel played a heck of a game tonight," said Douma. "He's playing with a lot of confidence right now and he's letting the game come to him. He had a great stat line again tonight and only had one turnover in 32 minutes."

The game turned into a free throw contest with both teams shooting a combined 69-of-88 from the charity stripe with the Dutch connecting on 34-of-40.

"Our guys did a great job of knocking down their free throws," said Douma. "We didn't want to foul as much as we did down the stretch but Loras missed some free throws and we didn't."

Sophomore reserve Jaden Moody (Cambridge, Ballard HS) provided a lift off the bench, adding 18 points off 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three.

"Jaden did a great job providing a spark off the bench for us tonight," said Douma. "A big reason why we won the game tonight is because of Jaden."

Senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Smith, Central's leading scorer (17.3/game) fouled out with 12 seconds left in the game to put Loras at the line with 12 seconds remaining. Demond George made 1-of-2 free throws to pull within 2 before free throws from McKnight put the game out-of-reach.

"When Kyle went out we told other guys they had to get open and they did a great job of doing that," said Douma. "Jamel did a nice job hitting free throws to close the game out."

Freshman center Caden Mauck (Lee's Summit, Mo., Blue Springs South HS) had 12 points, two rebounds in 13 minutes.

"Caden did a great job for us tonight," said Douma. "Loras didn't have an answer for him so they had to go small."

Seniors Malik Wildermuth (Normal, Ill., University HS) and Nick Drucker (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) each had 10 points. Drucker added seven rebounds and Wildermuth grabbed six and dished out four assists.

"We had a lot of guys step up tonight, we showed a lot of toughness," said Douma.

Senior Luke Posivio (Iowa City) had eight points and two rebounds in just six minutes.

"Luke battled for us inside and did a great job when he was in," said Douma.

Central (12-15) outshot Loras (19-7) 53.8 percent to 50 and won the battle on the boards 43-31.

"The difference between tonight and the two other games against Loras was our rebounding," said Douma. "We did a great job on the glass tonight and were able to limit their possessions."

Douma believes his team's experience will have the team ready to go Saturday.

"Our guys have been in this situation before, they know what to expect and what it takes to win a conference tournament title," he said. "We've been here four of the last five years and won it twice. Our seniors have played in this (tournament) title game twice. Our guys trust each other and are playing very confidently right now. Saturday is going to be a lot of fun and we can't wait."