PELLA— The Central College men's basketball team returned to Pella for the first time in over two weeks to host conference-leading Loras College in a highly-anticipated return to American Rivers Conference action, losing 90-60 Wednesday.

The Dutch got off to a hot start, jumping out to an early 16-7 lead before Loras answered with a run of their own to put them up 19-16. Central didn't waiver amidst this 12-0 Loras run, however, and the two teams continued to trade blows for the majority of the first half. While it was a back-and-forth half for the most part, Loras rattled off a 13-6 run in the final five minutes to take a 41-34 lead into halftime.

Carrying this momentum into the second half, Loras opened with a 7-0 run over the course of the first three minutes to extend their lead to 14 points and never looked back. While Central was able to briefly stop the bleeding, this was the overall trend of the second half. Loras dominated the last 20 minutes, outscoring Central 49-26 to ultimately win the game 90-60.

Kyle Cason (freshman, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) was Central's leading scorer with 14 points. Cason also recorded a career-high three steals. Grant Uecker (sophomore, Urbandale), led the Dutch in both rebounds (9) and assists (4) while also recording one of the team's two blocks.

While this wasn't the result Central was looking for, they have a chance to bounce back with a quick turnaround as they head to Decorah to play Luther College on Saturday at 4 p.m.