An airtight defense is likely to be the Central College men’s basketball team’s calling card this year but it the offense that almost yielded a big second-half comeback victory in the Merrill Thompson Classic Friday. The tourney host University of Wisconsin-Superior (2-0), who saw a 10-point lead vanish in the closing minutes, held off the Dutch 63-57 Friday. 

Down 29-26 at halftime, the Dutch opened the second half with a 5-0 burst for a brief 31-29 lead before finding themselves trailing 52-42 with 10:05 left. A 15-5 Central run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from guards Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.) and Kaleb Brand (junior, Mount Vernon), tied it 57-57. A challenging jumper with 15 seconds left put Wisconsin-Superior back up 59-57 and the Dutch saw a potential game-tying shot blocked, forcing them to foul in the waning seconds.

Central dominated the glass, 36-26, as center Joshua Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) had 13 rebounds. The Dutch shot a reasonable 44.9% from the field, including 36.0% from 3-point range, but committed an overly generous 24 turnovers. Brand led Central with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Terrell finished with 11 points and forward Grant Johnson (senior, Van Meter) had 10 with eight rebounds. 

Central (0-2) will face Lawrence University (Wis.) (0-2) in the tourney consolation game Saturday at 1 p.m. Lawrence threw a scare into Wisconsin-Platteville before dropping an 82-71 decision in the tourney opener earlier Friday evening.