Central men get back on track in basketball win

PELLA-After dropping four straight games, the Central College men’s basketball team righted the ship by beating a nationally ranked University of Dubuque squad Sunday afternoon 85-75.

Central (10-6 overall, 4-3 American Rivers) got the best of Dubuque (13-2 overall, 5-2 conference), who is ranked No. 18 in the D3hoops.com Top 25,

“It was a really good win,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “Dubuque is playing well this year and we’ve lost a couple tough ones, so it was good to see us bounce back. If we can score and shoot like we did, we’re going to be tough to beat because we know we always are going to defend and rebound.”

In just his second game back in the lineup after an injury cost him five games, forward Grant Johnson (5th-year, Waukee, Van Meter HS) dropped a season-high 22 points while chipping in seven rebounds and six assists.

“He has a two-way presence and is another playmaker in there,” Steinkamp said. “He really balances out everybody and gets other people open for shots.”

A 25-point night made Kaleb Brand (senior, Mount Vernon) the leading scorer but it was his defensive effort against one of the Spartans top players that drew praise.

“He had a good all-around game,” Steinkamp said. “He did a nice job guarding their point guard.”

Center Joshua Van Gorp (senior, Pella) had a quiet game by his standards, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds Kole Tupa (senior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) took the mantle of leading rebounder away from Van Gorp, notching 13 on the night. His rebounds in the waning minutes went a long way to sealing the game.

“He had two really big offensive rebounds late in the game,” Steinkamp said. “He’s a tough player. His shots weren’t falling but he was able to impact the game in different ways.”

Central travels to Luther College for a women’s-men’s doubleheader at Decorah Wednesday with the men’s game starting at 7:30 p.m. The Norse, who were off this weekend, are 5-11 overall and 0-7 in conference play.