Defense improves in Central men’s basketball loss
PELLA—The performance was promising but the result was the same as the Central College men’s basketball team dropped a back-and-forth contest with Loras College 79-72 Wednesday night.
There were 15 lead changes and the Dutch (4-15 overall, 1-9 American Rivers) never trailed by more than eight, but it was nonetheless an 11th-straight setback for the injury-riddled club.
“Our guys hung in there and they put themselves in position to win against a really good team,” coach Craig Douma said. “I told our guys, keep your heads up. I thought it was very positive in the locker room. They’re ready to go.”
Guard Adam Flinn (junior, St. Louis, Mo., Lafayette HS) garnered plenty of defensive attention but still led Central with 19 points while forward Caden Mauck (junior, Kansas City, Mo., Blue Springs South HS) had 16 points and eight rebounds. Guard Sean Kostyk (junior, Cape Coral, Fla., Mariner HS) added 13 points and freshman guard Drake Johnson (Stanton) scored 11. Central was outshot 48.3% to 40.0% and outrebounded 39-35.
But Douma pointed to 21.7% shooting (5-23) from 3-point range as the night’s critical stat. That and 31 points from JT Ford for Loras (13-6 overall, 6-4 conference).
“Offensively, it was probably not one of our best performances, but I thought our man defense was excellent,” Douma said. “We really locked them up defensively. If we get our scoring intact, that will help a ton.”
Central trailed 36-34 at intermission as Mauck was limited to 7 minutes of action due to foul trouble. The Dutch were within 68-66 at the 4:25 mark but a 5-0 burst gave Loras the upper hand in the closing minutes.
“Obviously Caden (Mauck) came back after playing seven minutes the first half and played all 20 in the second half and did a good job and Sean Kostyk stepped up, too,” Douma said. “He hit some big shots to help us get back in the game.”
Douma sees continued strides from Johnson in his rookie year.
“I thought that Drake, even in the first half when he only had four points, it seemed like he was just playing well,” he said. “He was playing better defense tonight and he was just attacking the hole.”
Central makes the trek to Waverly to face Wartburg College Saturday in a women’s-men’s doubleheader with the men’s game tipping off at 4 p.m. Central’s lone conference win was over the Knights 92-79 at Pella Dec. 4. Wartburg is 7-12 overall and 3-7 in the conference after absorbing a 79-63 loss at home against Coe College Wednesday night.
“Now we have to go get it done on the road,” Douma said. “We need that same defensive effort for 40 minutes.”
Saturday’s games will be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) and via www.kniakrls.com with Jon Mohwinkle calling the play-by-play.
