Three-point barrage dooms Dutch men’s basketball team
Central College
PELLA — The Central College men’s basketball team suffered an 88-68 defeat to Loras College Wednesday night.
Loras (11-4 overall, 4-2 Iowa Conference) first seven-made field goals were 3-pointers, which helped the Duhawks to a 21-16 lead. Central (8-6 overall, 2-3 Iowa Conference) failed to close the gap.
“It’s tough to win games when the other team is hitting 3s like Loras did,” said coach Craig Douma. “Loras was very aggressive tonight and they played with a ton of confidence.”
The Dutch were led by junior forward Kyle Smith (Ionia, New Hampton HS) with 18 points, senior forward Colby Taylor (Creston) had 13 points and five rebounds and junior guard Trashawn Boyd (Normal, Ill., University HS) added 10 points.
“Offensively, we need to find a way to knock down shots,” said Douma. “This was the second game in a row where our opponent shot it well and we didn’t have an answer.”
The Duhawks held the rebound advantage 41-35 over Central. Central outshot Loras 42.6% to 41.8% but the Duhawks made 18 3-pointers, shooting 54.5% from beyond the arc.
Central finished with 21 turnovers.
“We did not take care of the ball the way we needed to tonight,” said Douma.
Central heads to Waverly Saturday to continue Iowa Conference play against Wartburg College in a women’s-men’s doubleheader with the men beginning at 4 p.m. The Knights are coming off an 86-79 road loss to Buena Vista. The Dutch defeated Wartburg 92-80 in last season’s league tournament championship game.
