Anderson erupts for 22 but Central men’s basketball team tumbles
WAVERLY—It was a breakout day sophomore guard Jake Anderson (Iowa City, West HS) but a disappointing 97-88 setback for the injury-riddled Central College men’s basketball team at Wartburg College Saturday.
Anderson had just six previous appearances this year, all briefer than 4 minutes, scoring one basket, but after losing yet another player to injury when guard Kade Terrell (sophomore, Olathe, Colo., Montrose HS) went down Wednesday, Anderson came off the bench to pour in a career-high 22 points on 7-of-7 shooting.
“Jake really stepped up,” coach Craig Douma said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on the team and that showed up tonight. I hope that sends a message to the rest of our guys. It paid off for him. He knocked shots down.
“Jake was a big-time bright spot for us. Obviously, it’s hard to be perfect from the field but he was.”
Dutch forward Caden Mauck (junior, Kansas City, Mo., Blue Springs South HS) led with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds and guard Adam Flinn (junior, St. Louis, Mo., Lafayette HS) had 22 points.
Central fell despite 54.5% shooting to Wartburg’s 52.1%, but was outrebounded 38-26 and committed 20 turnovers. Wartburg had 15 offensive boards and those were the difference, Douma said.
“Early we got some stops but we kept spotting them offensive rebound after offensive rebound,” he said. “They aren’t necessarily one of the best shooting teams in the league but you give them more opportunities to take shots, they’re going to start making them.
“We had 11 turnovers and gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and we still had 40 points. You cut those in half and it’s a totally different ballgame. You shouldn’t score 88 points and lose.”
Central (4-16 overall, 1-10 American Rivers) was up 13-12 with 14:31 left in the first half when Wartburg rattled off 11 unanswered points for a 23-13 advantage. The Knights (8-12 overall, 4-7 conference) were up 11 at the 7-minute mark before Central closed to 44-40 at intermission. But Wartburg opened the second half with a 22-9 blitz and a 66-49 bulge with 13:40 remaining and the Dutch, whose lone league win was over the Knights, sustained their 12th straight loss.
“I haven’t been disappointed in a while but I was disappointed tonight,” Douma said. “I thought our practices were good but tonight we just didn’t come out and do what we needed to do to win the ballgame.”
Central is at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium Wednesday, taking on the University of Dubuque to start a three-game stretch that closes out the home season slate. It’s a women’s-men’s doubleheader with the men’s game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. The Spartans outscored Central 97-82 at Dubuque Jan. 15. Dubuque is 12-7 overall and 5-5 in the conference after a 92-66 thrashing at No. 9-rated Nebraska Wesleyan University Saturday.
“Dubuque’s a good team,” Douma said. “It’s a big one for us. I challenged the guys. I want to see what kind of team we have on Monday, who wants to work and who doesn’t, and get ourselves prepared to play on Wednesday.”
The Spartans gave Central trouble inside, Douma said.
“Dubuque’s got a really good point guard, they have size and they defend really well,” he said.
Rebounding will be an obvious focus.
“We’ve got to box out better and we’ve got to give better effort,” Douma said.
