INDIANOLA — This time they held on.
After dropping four straight matchups against Simpson College while holding second-half leads, the No. 5-seeded Central College men's basketball team closed out the No. 4 Storm 76-66 in the opening round of the six-team Iowa Conference tournament Tuesday evening.
The win propels the Dutch (15-11) into the tourney semifinals at Lincoln, Neb. Thursday, where they'll take on top-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan (18-7), which had a first-round bye.
Tuesday, Central led 32-31 at halftime and came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. Senior forward
Colby Taylor (Creston) and senior guard
Pete Walker (Red Oak) scored a combined 24 second-half points. going 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
"I thought it was a great second-half performance by our guys," said coach
Craig Douma. "It was a great team win. Our defense was great tonight. Colby and Pete both had great second halves."
Taylor and Walker had 14 points apiece to lead the Dutch, senior forward
Austin Glawe (Aurelia, Sioux Central HS) had 13 points and six rebounds, junior guard
Nick Drucker (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) had 11 points and junior forward
Kyle Smith (Ionia, New Hampton HS) added nine points off the bench.
"Drucker pulled a Drucker tonight, he made hustle play after hustle play," said Douma. "Multiple guys stepped up and played well for us tonight."
The Dutch controlled the glass 41-31 and outshot Simpson 43.1 percent from the field to 42.4.
"(Assistant coach)
Joe Steinkamp came up with a great defensive game plan for tonight," said Douma. "We were able to do a couple different things defensively that made the difference."
Nebraska Wesleyan won both matchups against Central earlier this year, 93-86 January 23 and 101-80 February 1. The Prairie Wolves earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament after sharing the league title with Loras College.
Central is trying to replicate last year's tourney run, when the Dutch became the first team in league history to capture the tourney crown by winning three straight road games. The tournament champ receives the league's automatic NCAA Division III tourney berth.
"Our guys are confident right now," said Douma. "They believe. They believe in each other and the team isn't going to lay down. We're the healthiest we've been since early in the season. We're going to have to rebound and defend in order to come out on top Thursday. We've had second half-leads against them before so we know we can do it."
