Waiting to get on the elevators on Friday night, Coach Craig Douma was holding a cardboard box that was filled with several mini NCAA boxes. Inside of each of those were medals for participating in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

The Central men’s basketball team dropped their first round game on Friday to St. Thomas, 78 – 66, and after peeking at the medals, Douma uttered the phrase, “We want a trophy. We want a big trophy.” Most of the players had high spirits after the game, and have already expressed to Coach Douma their yearning for a national championship. He stresses that in order to go after the big hardware, that work and preparation starts NOW.

“You gotta put the hard hat on and get to work, bottom line,” Douma said. “It’s gotta be collective on our team’s part. I thought the difference in (St. Thomas and Central) is, yeah, they’re very athletic, but they had size to go with that athleticism. Those guys, they’re just bigger and more physical than we are. Hey, they have a lot of seniors on that team. We get that size and we build that, and we add a couple pieces to our puzzle next year, and we’re excited.”

Central experienced no turnover in their personnel after the loss, and will be bringing back their entire roster, plus some talented JV players, when they start the 2016-17 season next winter.

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