Surprising run continues for Central men’s basketball team in Minnesota
Central College
PELLA— Turning heads late in the season, the Central College men’s basketball team will carry its recent three-game tournament road streak into in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota against the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Friday at 8 p.m.
Central (19-9) will square off against the host Tommies (24-3), the four-team bracket’s top seed, in Schoenecker Arena in the second game Friday night. Wis.-Oshkosh (18-9) and Elmhurst (Ill.) (21-6) face off in the opener. The winners will play Saturday at 7 p.m.
Making its second NCAA appearance in the last three years, Central has made 11 overall appearances, the most of any Iowa Conference school.
“St. Thomas is a really good team,” coach Craig Douma said. “They have a great record for a reason. They have a lot of good senior leadership.”
Central’s game will be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1). The broadcast can also be accessed at www.kniakrls.com. Live video of all three weekend tournament games will be available at with live stats at http://www.tommiesports.com/broadcast/w7vf6i.
Tickets will be available at the door. Fans can call 715-346-4100 to pre-purchase tickets. Single-game tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students college age and under.
The Dutch are among 42 conference champions or conference tournament champions earning automatic berths in the 62-team tournament field.
Road warriors—After finishing fifth in conference, the Dutch earned an automatic NCAA berth by winning the league’s six-team tournament. Central did something never done before, winning three games on the road to seal the title. Central opened with an 84-79 victory at Loras in the first round, followed by a 72-61 upset of top-seeded Dubuque, followed by a 92-80 over No. 2 seed Wartburg in the title game.
“We’ve been labeled the road warriors,” Douma said. “I’m so happy about how focused our guys were the last two weeks of the season. We were confident that those were all games we could win. We’ve hit our stride at the best time and our guys are playing fearless right now.”
A tale of two teams—It has only been two years since the Central played in the tourney. The Dutch were sent to Stevens Point, Wis. in 2014 and registered an 85-72 win over St. Olaf (Minn.) in the first round. The run ended with a 76-71 defeat against top-ranked Wis.-Stevens Point the following night.
Juniors Ryan Kunkel (Solon), Nate Munn (Ames) and Colby Taylor (Creston) were on the roster two years ago, as was assistant coach Michael Iseman. Douma’s lieutenant, Joe Steinkamp, was also there in 2014.
“I think that experience is going to help us,” Douma said. “We kind of know what to expect in terms of practice times and routine. That feeling and that drive to get back has been a motivating factor for our team”.
However, the majority of the production from that tournament has graduated.
“The main difference is that the 2014 team was such a senior-led team,” Douma said. “We had five good seniors and they all contributed. That team was defined by great senior leadership.”
The 2016 Dutch team has no seniors, and relies heavily on its underclassmen.
“With us not having any seniors, sometimes you’re looking for that leadership,” “Douma said. “We’re finding it late in the year, but those leadership roles are being filled in a different way. Our guys are finding their roles and how they fit into this team.”
Dissecting the Dutch—Taylor is the catalyst for this Central team both offensively and defensively. He’s the team’s leading scorer with 20.5 points per game and top rebounder with 9.5. His 14 blocks and 25 steals are second best on the team.
“He’s the leader of our team,” Douma said. “His production makes things easier for everybody else.”
Central has a high-octane offense with four players averaging doublefigures. Off the bench, a pair of 3-point specialists, forwards Austin Glawe (junior, Aurelia, Sioux Center HS) and Kyle Smith (sophomore, New Hampton) average 10.2 and 11.2 points per game, respectively.
While he also averages 11.1 points per game, off guard Pete Walker’s (junior, Red Oak) team-high 90 assists have been crucial to the team’s success. Point guard Trashawn Boyd (sophomore, Normal, Ill., University HS) follows with 74 assists.
“We really play off Pete and Trashawn’s driving ability,” Douma said. “We put shooters like Austin and Kyle around those guys to help spread the floor.”
Kunkel, a 6-7 forward, led the conference with 1.9 blocks per game and also hauled in 7.6rebounds, 2.1 on the offensive end. Another defensive stalwart for the Dutch, junior Tate Handsaker (Nevada) has 20 steals and often locks down the opposing team’s best scorer.
“They say defense wins championships,” Douma said. “In all three games of the Iowa Conference tournament, we came up with some key stops down the stretch to win the game.
“We’ve said it since day one of this year: Defend, rebound, take care of the ball. If we can do those three things well, our offense will take care of itself. All you can ask for is to put yourself in a situation where you can be successful.”
By the numbers—Taylor became the 28th member of Central’s 1,000-point club during his 26-point outburst against Wartburg on January 9. The junior has quickly worked his way up the list and stands eighth on Central’s all-time scoring list with 1,283 points. His 665 career rebounds are fourth on the all-time list
With eight points on Friday, Taylor would have the second-best single-season scoring mark ever. He currently has 573 points this season.
Three more blocks on Friday would give Kunkel the school record for blocks in a season, surpassing Jeff Verhoef’s 54 in 1978-79.
Smith is tied for seventh with 60 3-point field goals made in a season and his 89.3 free throw percentage this season is currently fourth-best all-time.
The Tommies— The regular-season champions in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, St. Thomas is ranked No. 7 in the latest D3hoops.com poll. The Tommies enter the tournament after losing their conference title game 72-66 against St. Olaf (Minn.).
Four starters in the St. Thomas lineup are scoring in double figures, led by 6-4 senior guard Taylor Montero’s 14.4 points per game. Ryan Saarela, a 6-6 senior forward, leads the team with 9.1 rebounds. Montero and Saarela were named to the all-conference team, joined by teammates, Cortez Tillman, a 5-11 senior guard and 6-0 junior guard Grant Shaeffer.
“We’re going to have to score some points, because they can score a lot of points.” Douma said. “They don’t tend to be a very high-possession team and they control the tempo. They’re an offensive-minded team that can create their own shots and shoot the ball well.”
Central is 0-3 all-time against the Tommies. Friday will be the third time that Central has played at St. Thomas in NCAA tourney action, having previously lost there in 1994 and 1995. The last meeting came in 1995 when Central’s second-half comeback fell short in a 62-58 defeat. That was the final game of long-time Central coach Jack Walvoord’s highly successful career.
“This is a new era,” Douma said. “Our guys are not going to resonate with happened 20 years ago and I don’t think St. Thomas is either.”
The bracket—Wis.-Oshkosh finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second place in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Titans earned the league’s automatic bid with a 66-63 victory against Wis.-River Falls. It’s the program’s sixth trip to the tournament and first since 2002.
Elmhurst is the third-place team out of the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, receiving an at-large bid after losing to No. 1 Augustana (Ill.) 69-53 in the league tourney title game, The Blue Jays are the only team to knock off Augustana this year, winning 97-84 January 27. This is Elmhurst’s sixth time in the tourney and second consecutive trip.
“It’s four very good teams,” Douma said. “It’s a difficult bracket to be in and we’re going to be challenged.”
Central has never met Wis.-Oshkosh and is 0-1 against Elmhurst, falling 66-59 on Dec. 6, 1975.
The field—The winner of this weekend’s four-team pod in St. Paul, advances to sectional play March 11-12, taking on the winner of the three-team pod that features Whitworth (Wash.) (26-1), Whitman (Wash.) (22-4) and Chapman (Calif.). Chapman visits Whitman in the first round with the winner traveling to Whitworth for the second round
The final four teams battle for the NCAA title March 18-19 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.
NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament, St. Paul, Minn.
Friday, March 4, 2016
Wis.-Oshkosh vs. Elmhurst (Ill.) 5:30 p.m.
Central vs. St. Thomas (Minn.), 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Friday’s winners, 7 p.m.
Complete NCAA Div. III tournament bracket available on the Central athletics website at: http://www.central.edu/athletics/basketballmens/supportDocs/1516/2016%20NCAA%20Div.%20III%20Bracket.pdf
