WAVERLY — The Central College men's basketball team led for the majority of the game Saturday night, but costly turnovers led to an 81-78 Iowa Conference loss to Wartburg.
The Dutch (10-3, 1-1 conference) turned the ball over 16 times, allowing the Knights (7-5, 1-1 conference) to convert 21 points off turnovers.
"Tonight was a game of missed opportunities," said coach Craig Douma. "Too many mistakes cost us a win."
Both squads shot 42 percent from the field and brought down 43 boards, while Central knocked down 10-of-31 from behind the arc and 14-of-21 at the charity stripe.
Central took a one-point advantage into halftime and led 76-74 with three minutes on the clock in the second half. Wartburg hit a 3-pointer at the 2:52 mark to put the Knights ahead 77-76 and they would not relinquish the lead. The Dutch had the last possession down three with 11 seconds to go, but aKyle Smith (sophomore, Ionia/New Hampton HS) 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
"We could have had a bigger halftime lead if we could have taken care of the ball," said Douma. "Then we came out in the second half and didn't shoot the ball as well and our defense dropped off a little bit."
Smith was one of three Dutch players in double figures, tallying 12 points in 23 minutes off the bench. Junior forward Colby Taylor (Creston) had a game-high 26 points on 7-of-15 shooting, adding 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and 18th of his career.
"Colby had a really nice game tonight," Douma said. "He's playing well right now and doing a lot of good things for our basketball team."
Junior guard Pete Walker (Red Oak) was 7-of-9 from the field for a career-high 21 points. He made 3-of-4 3-pointers and tacked on six rebounds.
"Pete bounced back and played well," Douma said. "He was strong with the ball, put pressure on their (Wartburg's) defense and played with a lot of focus."
Junior forward Ryan Kunkel (Solon) notched a game-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points and two blocks.
The Dutch will hit the court at the P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium Wednesday at 8 p.m. for a league tilt with Dubuque. The Spartans (9-4, 2-0 conference) are coming off an 83-47 drubbing of Luther.
"Dubuque is playing really good basketball right now," Douma said. "They are the conference favorite and rightfully so. We are going to have to play a great game Wednesday."
