The Central College basketball teams played host to Wartburg Wednesday evening in their conference home openers, as heard live on the KRLS3 stream.
In the women’s game, the eighth-ranked Knights proved to be too much to handle, defeating the Dutch 103-69. Wartburg jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, triggering a Central timeout. From that point through halftime, the teams were involved in a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the half. Central remained within striking distance, and cut the deficit down to four in the closing minutes of the first half. Wartburg closed the half on a 9-3 run and led 49-39 at halftime.
The second half was all Wartburg, as the Knights outscored the Dutch 32-12 in the period to end any hope of a Central upset. Wartburg would put in the reserves and top the century mark for the first time this season. Dutch head coach Joe Steinkamp said that while he was happy with how his team played offensively, they could not keep up with Wartburg’s transition game.
“The biggest thing in the game was just our transition defense. I mean we were just always on the run. They did a great job of pushing the ball up the sideline, they got it up there quickly. And we just never got our half court defense set because we just didn’t match up very well in transition.”
Central had three score in double figures, led by Maci Gambell with 15 points. Carson Fisk followed with 13 points and Kelsea Hurley had 12. Central falls to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play. Up next is a trip to Milwaukee this weekend for two games against Mount Mary.
The Central men raced out to a quick lead in the first half and held off a second half rally by Wartburg for a 92-79 victory. Central went on a scoring flurry in the first half to lead 37-22 at halftime. The offensive pace picked up for both teams after halftime, as Wartburg outscored the Dutch 57-55 in the second half.
The Knights steadily trimmed their deficit down to as little as 12, but Wartburg turnovers and fouls in key situations thwarted any comeback efforts the Knights had. Central was able to put the game away down the stretch with clutch shots, and the Dutch notched their first conference win of the season. Head Coach Craig Douma says his team made the right plays down the stretch and did not let the Knights get confident.
“Overall very pleased with this performance because they’re a tough team. They’re gritty. And they’re going through a [rough stretch]. We’ve been there, we’ve all lost those four or five games in a row, it’s tough, and they’re trying to find ways to get confidence too. But I thought we did a good job of not giving them a lot of confidence. You knew they’d have something more in though but we held it off. We got a couple key stops when we needed to, we got some key baskets and scores and we made free throws down the stretch.”
Central had three players score in double figures. Adam Flinn led the way with 29 points. Caden Mauck and Drake Johnson each scored 15, and Mauck’s 10 rebounds gave him a double-double. The Dutch improve to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference. They’ll return to action Saturday, hosting Bethany Lutheran in a 5:00 p.m. contest.