The Central College men’s basketball team dropped its season opener last night at UW-River Falls, 85-73.

The Dutch fell behind by as many as 17 in the first half, but whittled the deficit to just eight with 15 minutes left in the game. The Falcons then ripped off eight in a row over the next two minutes to take control of the game.

Kyle Smith scored 29 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Central, Malik Wildermuth added 13 points and Nick Drucker scored 10.

The Dutch are back in Wisconsin Saturday at UW-LaCrosse.

Central’s women open their season tonight at home at 7:00 against Grinnell, while wrestling travels to Coe for its first Iowa Conference match of the year.