ST. PAUL, MINN. — The streak rolls on.
The Central College men's basketball team made it three in a row with a 76-61victory over Northwestern Tip-Off Tournament host Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.) Saturday. Central (3-0) finished undefeated in the tourney, after tripping North Central (Minn.) 84-75 Friday night.
"Great wins the past two nights," said coach Craig Douma. "With Northwestern-St. Paul having last night off, we knew they would be rested but our guys were able to collect a total team win."
Forward Colby Taylor (senior, Creston) continued his strong start, leading the team with 21 points and eight rebounds. Taylor, who is averaging 28 points a contest, has grabbed at least eight rebounds in each game this year.
"Colby was great again tonight," said Douma. "He did things on both ends of the court to help get the win."
Junior guard Kyle Smith (Grand River, New Hampton HS) poured in 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including three triples. Senior forward Austin Glawe (Aurelia, Sioux Central HS)scored on four straight possessions, connecting on four 3-pointers. Hefinished with 14 points and four rebounds.
"At a time where both teams were struggling to score, Austin came in and got hot," said Douma. "We started to run some things for Austin and he was able to finish."
Junior forward Malik Wildermuth (Normall, Ill., University HS) also provided a great performance according to Douma. He had seven points and six rebounds in 21 minutes
"Malik was fantastic tonight," he said. "He came in and rebounded very well and also provided great defense."
With back-to-back games, Douma used 11 players to help distribute the workload.
"Tonight was a total team effort," he said. "Our bench came in and played very well."
In a final game before Thanksgiving, Central will host high-scoring Grinnell College (1-1) and its frenetic offense Wednesday night at 6 p.m. It's the first time the Dutch will play in front of the home crowd at P.H. Kuyper Gym since their 101-75 win over Wartburg last February.
"Heading into Wednesday night, we know there are things we need to work on defensively because of the way Grinnell plays," said Douma. "We need to handle the ball better and we'll work on that this week."
