Central’s Wildermuth beats Coe at the buzzer in men’s basketball thriller
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA — Central College senior forward Malik Wildermuth (Normal, Ill., University HS) stole a victory away from Coe College in the closing seconds as his buzzer-beating layup gave the Dutch a 76-75 victory Saturday evening.
Trailing 74-73 with six seconds remaining, Wildermuth toed the free throw line with a chance to take the lead. He made the first free throw before missing the second. After the miss, Wildermuth leaped for the rebound only to foul Coe guard Zach Schlabaugh.
With the game tied at 74, Schlabaugh went to line. He knocked down the first but the second free throw drew iron and senior forward Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) grabbed the rebound. Smith took off before being stopped at half court with three seconds to go, where he found Wildermuth sprinting toward the rim. Wildermuth collected the Smith pass and put the ball off the glass as time expired.
“It was an incredible play by two of our seniors,” said coach Craig Douma. “Kyle made an unselfish play by getting it to Malik and Malik did a great job getting the shot off.”
Smith led Central with 20 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
“Kyle did a great job tonight,” said Douma. “He hit some shots early and then did a nice job finding his rhythm in the second half.”
Wildermuth struggled shooting (6-of-17) but found his touch late in the game, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes.
“Malik did a great job working through his shooting woes tonight,” said Douma. “No-one put in more shots over the last week than Malik and I think he’s getting back to the way he was playing earlier in the year.”
Junior guard Jamel McKnight (Austin, Texas, Hendrickson HS) had 13 points, including 2-of-5 from three-point range.
“I thought Jamel hit a couple of dagger 3s tonight,” said Douma. “He hit one at the end of the half that gave us some confidence going into the second half and then hit another three late in the shot clock.”
Sophomore center Caden Mauck (Lee’s Summit, Mo., Blue Springs South HS) had nine points and nine rebounds.
“I think we’re starting to see Caden grow up before our eyes,” said Douma. “He played with a ton of confidence tonight and did a great job battling down low.”
Freshman guard Adam Flinn (Wildwood, Mo., Lafayette HS) provided a spark off the bench with seven points in 14 minutes.
“Adam did a great job giving us some offense when we were struggling a bit in the first half,” said Douma. “He came in and hit a three and then had a couple of really tough finishes at the rim.”
The teams tied with 34 rebounds and Coe outshot Central 48.1 percent to 44.1 but the Dutch clamped down in the second half holding the Kohawks to 33.3 percent compared to their opening half of 62.9. Both teams also forced 13 turnovers.
Central heads to Dubuque Monday evening for a women’s-men’s doubleheader against Loras College with the men beginning at 8 p.m. Loras enters the contest 12-4 overall and 5-2 in the Iowa Conference after an 82-80 road win over league leading Buena Vista University Saturday. The Duhawks are 7-0 at home this season while the Dutch are just 3-6 away from P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.
