Slow start costly for Central men’s basketball team

Central College

Central College

LA CROSSE, WIS. — The Central College men’s basketball team could not dig itself out of an early hole in a 70-54 loss to Wis.-La Crosse Saturday.

The Eagles (3-2) scored the game’s first 14 points and never relinquished the lead.

“You can’t spot a really good team on the road that kind of lead to start off the game,” said coach Craig Douma.

Douma said Central (2-1) struggled to make shots at the beginning of the game.

“We got a lot of really good looks early, but just could not capitalize the way we needed to,” said Douma.

Forward Colby Taylor (sophomore, Creston) recorded his fourth career double-double for the Dutch. He scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds.

“Colby really came to play,” said Douma. “He caught the ball in a position where he could finish around the basket a lot. He did a great job on the boards and had a good all-around game.”

Another bright spot for Central was guard Kyle Smith (freshman, Ionia, New Hampton HS), who scored all eight of his points after halftime.

“Kyle Smith had a really good second half,” said Douma. “He shot the ball well today.”

Douma thought the Dutch played well enough to win in certain aspects of the game Saturday.

“When you outrebound them, you hold them to 41 percent from the field and you get to the line just as much as they did, you shouldn’t lose the game,” said Douma.

Central held a 44-35 advantage on the boards and attempted one more free throw than the Eagles. One area where the Dutch struggled was turning over the basketball. 21 Central turnovers led to 25 points for Wis.-La Crosse.

“Little things made a big difference today,” said Douma. “We did not take care of the ball and made some uncharacteristic turnovers.”

The Dutch will return home Wednesday to take on Augustana (Ill.) (4-0) at 7:30 p.m. The Vikings are currently ranked No. 1 in the latest D3hoops.com rankings.

“We will find out a lot about ourselves on Wednesday,” said Douma.

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