Battle-tested Central men’s basketball team falls to No. 3 Augustana
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA — A battle-tested Central College men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with the d3hoops.com No. 3-ranked Augustana College (Ill.) Saturday before faltering down the stretch to lose 82-73.
Entering Saturday’s matchup, Central (3-7) had the NCAA Division III West Region’s second highest strength of schedule, according to d3hoops.com.
“We’ve shown all year that we have been able to contend with really good teams, top teams in the country,” said coach Craig Douma. “A few times this year we’ve been right in the game or had the lead with 10 minutes to go and we just haven’t been able to close one out yet.”
“We’re still learning as a group and this group doesn’t have just one guy that we can look to at the end of the game. Every night there might be a different guy depending on matchups on who we want to attack at the end of the game.”
Central was led offensively by senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) with 18 points, three rebounds and three assists. Smith joined the 1,000-point club at Central during Thursday’s victory over Faith Baptist College.
“Kyle was able to make shots for us in the first half tonight and did a nice job in keeping the fight of our guys going,” said Douma.
Senior forward Malik Wildermuth (Normal, Ill., University HS) had 16 points and five rebounds. A game after setting the school steals record in a game with eight, Wildermuth had a pair in the loss.
“Malik battled hard tonight and kept after it,” said Douma. “We have great senior leadership with Malik and Kyle.”
Freshman center Caden Mauck (Lee’s Summit, Mo., Blue Springs HS) had 12 points and five rebounds and junior point guard Jamel McKnight (Austin, Texas, Hendrickson HS) had 11 points and three rebounds.
Central raced out to a 38-32 halftime lead, but were outscored 50-35 in the second half. Augustana (8-1) controlled the glass with 45 rebounds, including 12 offensive boards. The Vikings outshot the Dutch 47.8 percent to 47.3.
Central finishes its non-conference play with a trip to Las Vegas, Nev. December 29-30 for the D3Hoops.com Classic. The Dutch face No. 6 Ramapo College (N.J.) at 4 p.m. before ending the trip with a tilt against Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.) at 6 p.m. Ramapo enters the contest with a 7-1 record while Pacific Lutheran is 3-4.
“We’re looking forward to the trip for our guys,” said Douma. “It’s a great opportunity to play good competition and learn more about our guys.”
