Central College rained in 14 3-point goals in its first men’s basketball home-court appearance of the season as they dominated Knox College (Ill.) 88-66 Friday night.

Guard Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.) knocked down five treys and had a game-high 18 points for the Dutch (4-3), who used a 10-0 first-half run to build a 39-29 lead at the break. Central then opened the second half with 11 unanswered points and pushed its lead to 72-42 with 9:09 left. Coach Joe Steinkamp emptied the bench soon thereafter. Guard Kaleb Brand (junior, Mount Vernon) hit a pair of threes and had 12 points and guard Sam Beatty (senior, Mount Pleasant) had 10 points in just 10 minutes of action that included a crowd-pleasing dunk. 

Dutch head coach Joe Steinkamp was impressed by the all-around performance of 6-foot-10 forward Grant Johnson (senior, Waukee, Van Meter HS). 

“We’re still kind of learning Grant and the best ways to use him but he’s just a stat stuffer. He’s such a good passer so we play off him in the low post we play off him in the high post. He really anchors our defense with his shot blocking and rebounding. Yeah, Grant’s been great and we’re trying to get him to even score more. He hit a three which I was happy to see he can step out and shoot it and his post game is actually really good too, but he’d just naturally rather pass, which is kind of fun. Our guys are starting to learn to cut and when to cut and he’s finding them on back door stuff and for kick out threes and it’s just been fun. He’s done a really good job.”

The senior Johnson had just five points but blocked five shots, had five rebounds, passed out seven assists and had two steals.

Central outshot Knox 50.0% to 38.2% and hit 41.2% from 3-point range. The Dutch held a 43-27 rebounding advantage.

Central opens American Rivers play Wednesday against Nebraska Wesleyan University with a women’s-men’s doubleheader in Lincoln, Nebraska. The men’s contest starts at 7:30 p.m.