Hot first half carries Central to men’s basketball win
PELLA-Central College erupted for 50 first-half points, put five players in double figures and cruised to an 83-60 men’s basketball victory over Wartburg College Saturday.
Firing a torrid 61.5% from the floor in the first half, the Dutch (12-6 overall, 6-3 American Rivers) dashed to a 50-36 lead at the break and were up by as many as 25 points in the second half before coach Joe Steinkamp cleared the bench.
Freshman guard Brad Curren (Harlan) hit all five of his first-half 3-point tries and finished with 16 points and four assists.
“He kind of did the same thing the first game at Wartburg, but hitting five threes in a half is something you don’t see very often,” Steinkamp said. “It was a really fun game for him and the guys did a good job of finding him. Kaleb Brand (senior, Mount Vernon) also hit multiple threes, Kole Tupa (senior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) hit multiple threes, Grant Johnson (5th-year, Waukee, Van Meter HS) hit multiple threes. When we’re hitting the outside shot, we’re really hard to beat.”
The Dutch were 13-of-29 from 3-point range for the game.
Brand had a team-high 18 points while center Joshua Van Gorp (senior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) had 16 points and six rebounds, Johnson had 12 points with eight rebounds and two blocks and Tupa scored 10 with a game-high five assists.
The Dutch outshot Wartburg (3-15 overall, 2-7 conference) for the game, 50.9% to 34.0% and outrebounded the Knights 38-30.
“I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball (21 assists on 28 field goals),” Steinkamp said. “It’s always nice to get five guys in double figures. We shot the ball really well from the perimeter and when we didn’t foul, I thought we did a good job defensively. We contested their shots and took away some of their main actions. So it was just a good all-around team effort.”
With spring semester classes underway, the Dutch had good crowd support as well.
“It was good to be back on our home court with the students there,” Steinkamp said. “We had a nice crowd.”
Wednesday Central is at Simpson College in Indianola for a women’s-men’s doubleheader with the men’s game starting at 7:30 p.m. Simpson is 1-7 in the conference and 7-10 overall after a 75-66 defeat at the University of Dubuque Saturday. Central outlasted Simpson 80-76 at Pella Nov. 21.
“Simpson is really good,” Steinkamp said. “They’ve been in a lot of close games and they’re capable of beating anybody in the league.”
