Central Dazzles in Racing to Men’s Basketball Road Win
The Central College men’s basketball team used a dazzling first-half offensive display to race out of Minnesota with an 87-73 victory at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.).
With 6-foot, 10-inch forward Grant Johnson out with injury, freshman guard Brad Curren stepped into the lineup and helped Central turn up the tempo. The Dutch streaked to a 22-6 lead in the first 6 minutes. Central attacked the basket relentlessly on the break, hitting their first 10 shots and making 76% from the floor to build their lead to as much as 50-28 with 1:51 left. Nearly 8 minutes elapsed before Central’s first miss. Even after misfiring on its last four shots, Central hit 65.5% from the field for the half and led 50-32. All-American center Joshua Van Gorp took advantage of the undersized Eagles with 29 points and seven boards. Point guard Drew Edwards, playing not far from his home, put on a show as well with a near triple-double. He shared team-high rebounding honors with eight, passed out nine assists, and hit all four of his shots from the field for nine points. Forward Kaleb Brand, likewise, was 5-of-5 from the field, scoring 16 points. Curren, in his first start, had 10 points and forward Kole Tupa had eight rebounds.
Central takes a break for Christmas before returning for a trip to Gallatin, Tennessee for the Music City Classic December 29th-30th. The Dutch take on Heidelberg University (Ohio) in a first-ever meeting at 3 p.m. on the 29th.
Dutch Roll Up Three Wrestling Wins at Prairie Wolf Duals
In its final action of 2023, the Central College men’s wrestling team was victorious in a trio of dual matches Saturday at the Prairie Wolf Duals hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Central (8-1) opened with a 45-0 thrashing of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.) before winning handily against Westminster College (Mo.) 42-9. An early lead started to slip against Concordia College – Moorhead (Minn.) but the Dutch held on 19-16.
Central’s smallest wrestler provided the biggest difference in the win over Concordia. David Vukobratovich opened the match with a first period fall to give Central a 6-0 lead. Both teams won five bouts but Vukobratovich’s bonus points swung the match in favor of the Dutch. He won his other two matches by decision against MSOE and Westminster. Austin Roos also scored a major decision for the Dutch against the Cobbers. He won his first match by fall against MSOE and received a forfeit win against Westminster. Central’s 141-pounder Pierre Baldwin and 149-pounder Duncan Delzell also went 3-0 on the day.
The Dutch are off for a few weeks now, returning at the home Under Armour Invitational on Saturday, January 6 at 9:30 a.m. in H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse.