Central clinches Iowa Conference tournament berth despite men’s basketball loss
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA — It was a tale of two halves Saturday in Pella, as the Central College men’s basketball team raced out to a 58-41 halftime lead before Wartburg College overcame the deficit to win 93-92.
“There were a lot of ups and downs in the game tonight,” said coach Craig Douma. “I felt in the second half it was hard to get into a flow with Wartburg shooting so many free throws. We have to do a better job of guarding and defending. We’re a team that needs offensive flow and in the second half it was tough to get consecutive possessions without a whistle.”
After shooting just five first half free throws, the Knights shot 31 in the second half, connecting on 24.
Central was led offensively by senior forward Malik Wildermuth (Normal, Ill., University HS) with 27 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Junior point guard Jamel McKnight (Austin, Texas, Hendrickson HS) had an efficient 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. Senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) tallied 22 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“I thought our big three tonight (Malik, Jamel, Kyle) played really well,” said Douma. “We were able to go on a few different runs throughout the game but just couldn’t close it out at the end. I thought Jamel had a great stat line again tonight. We just needed a little more production out of our bench.”
Both teams burned the nets in the first half shooting over 59 percent (Central 66.7, Wartburg 59.3) but Wartburg outshot Central 59.6 percent to 50 for the game and outrebounded the Dutch 30-28.
Despite the loss, Central (10-15, 7-9 Iowa Conference) received the No. 6 seed in the Iowa Conference tournament to face No. 3 seed Buena Vista University Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Storm Lake. With the win, Wartburg (16-9, 9-7 Iowa Conference) earned the No. 5 seed and matches up with No. 4 seed Simpson College in Indianola Tuesday evening.
“Our guys have been in this situation before,” said Douma. “Our seniors have played in this situation two years in a row now. We have a lot of hungry guys and they are going to give it their best effort up in Storm Lake Tuesday”.
