Competing at the Loras Holiday Classic over the weekend, the Central College men’s basketball team came out of Christmas break with a 1-1 effort in Dubuque.

On Saturday, a 51-point second half pushed North Central University (Minn.) to a 90-81 win over the short-handed Dutch in the opening game of the weekend. The Dutch and Rams were tied at 39-39 going into halftime with Central leading by as much as eight in the first half, but North Central shot 62.1% (18-29) in the second half to pull away. For the first time since the 2019-20 season, the Dutch played a game without All-American center Joshua Van Gorp, who missed the contest with an injury. Karson Wehde scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Central in Van Gorp’s absence. Freshman guard Grant Uecker had 15 points in his first start and forward Owen Schipper added 14 points with four rebounds and three assists. Will Henrickson chipped in 13 points off the bench.

Forcing Alma College (Mich.) into 18 turnovers, the Central men relied on defense for a 77-60 victory Sunday afternoon to close out the Loras Holiday Classic. The Dutch trailed the Scots 34-33 at halftime, but limited their opponents to 26 points in the second half while pouring in 44 of their own. Fifth year senior Kaleb Brand drew the assignment against Donovan Collins, the leading scorer for the Scots, and limited him to seven points. With All-American center Joshua Van Gorp missing his second game of the weekend with an injury, Owen Schipper picked up some of the offensive workload with a team-high 18 points. Bradley Curren added 16 points in the win, while Karson Wehde and Kip Tupa each had 11 points. Schipper also led the team with eight rebounds.

The Central men now start a stretch of 13 American Rivers Conference games this Saturday with a 4 p.m. contest at Coe College that can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS.