Central falls to No. 9 Wis.- River Falls in men’s basketball opener
Central Dutch Athletics
RIVER FALLS, WIS. — After losing its program’s all-time leading scorer, Colby Taylor, all-time leader in blocks, Ryan Kunkel and a two-time all-Iowa Conference selection, Pete Walker, due to graduation, the Central College men’s basketball team battled with 2017 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Wis.-River Falls Wednesday night, ultimately falling 85-73.
Senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) lit up the nets, pouring in 29 points, including five three pointers and grabbed eight rebounds. Smith was two points shy of his career high which he set last season on the road against in a win over Wartburg.
“I thought Kyle played a heckuva game tonight,” said coach Craig Douma. “He was attacking the rim well and found his stroke from the outside. Kyle also did a great job defensively on Alex Herink tonight as well.”
Herink is the returning Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year and was held to just 10 points.
Senior forward Malik Wildermuth (Normal, University HS) tallied 13 points and corralled four rebounds while senior guard Nick Drucker (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) chipped in 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
“I thought Malik played well tonight and I thought Nick gave us a spark tonight,” said Douma.
Free throws and rebounds tell the tale of the game according to Douma.
“We didn’t convert enough from the free throw line and we gave up too many rebounds,” he said. “We had 14 offensive rebounds but we weren’t able to finish those and then we just missed too many shots at the line,” he said.
The Dutch finished the contest with 37 rebounds compared to the Falcons 44. Central was 10-18 from the charity stripe.
With all the new faces getting minutes, Douma sees a lot to like after the first game.
“I’m proud of the effort our guys gave tonight,” said Douma. “We’re replacing a lot and we’re figuring out our rotations. With how tough our non-conference schedule is the guys have to get ready quick.”
Central was also without starting point guard Trashawn Boyd (Normal, Ill., University HS) due to a minor injury.
Wis.-River Falls (1-0) sits at No. 9 in the latest d3hoops.com poll and the schedule for the Dutch (0-1) does not get much easier with a trip to Wis.-La Crosse for a 3 p.m. tip Saturday followed by a matchup with at Grinnell College Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Central has games against No. 2 Augustana College (Ill.), No. 5 Ramapo College (N.J.), No. 9 Washington-St. Louis University and No. 21 Wartburg College.
Augustana comes to Pella and Kuyper Gymnasium December 16 for a 3 p.m. tip. Central faces Ramapo December 29 in Las Vegas, Nev. The Dutch take on Wartburg January 3 at Waverly and then again February 17 in Pella.
