LAS VEGAS, NEV.—It was a near-monumental comeback as the Central College men's basketball team almost erased a 24-point first-half deficit but the College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) hung on for a 94-84 win at the D3hoops.com Classic Friday night.
           
St. Scholastica shot a scorching 67.6% in the first half for a 60-41 lead and was up by as much as 51-27 with 4:27 left. Collin Anderson hit 10-of-11 shots for 25 first-half points for the Saints.
           
"They got hot," coach Craig Douma said. "But if you let a good shooter get good looks early on, he's going to score. We didn't come out and guard the way we wanted to guard."
           
But Central turned on the jets after intermission, opening with a 30-13 burst that concluded with a 14-0 run to climb within 73-71 with 7:48 left before the Saints reasserted control. Central trailed 86-74 before a final surge made it 88-84 with 1:13 remaining, only to have the Dutch shooting touch cool.
           

"I thought we settled for threes (late in the game) instead of attacking the hoop," Douma said.
           
The second-half difference for Central was defense, Douma said.
           
"We held them to 34 points in the second half," he said. "We just guarded a lot better. We also didn't rebound very well in the first half. But we rebounded the heck out of the ball in the second half."
           
St. Scholastica (4-7) still shot 59% for the night to Central's 41%. The Saints were 14 of 29 from 3-point range and outrebounded Central 39-31.
           
Guard Sean Kostyk (junior, Cape Coral, Fla., Mariner HS) came off the bench to score 19 second-half points. Guard Adam Flinn (junior, St. Louis, Mo., Lafayette HS) also had 19 points with six assists and three steals, forward Caden Mauck (junior, Kansas City, Mo., Blue Springs South HS) notched his sixth double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and guard Kade Terrell (sophomore, Olathe, Colo., Montrose HS) had nine points and four assists.
           
Central takes on New Jersey City University Saturday in another late contest, tipping off at 10 p.m. (Central Time). It's the first game of the classic for New Jersey City and, in fact, the program's first game ever west of the Mississippi River. The Gothic Knights (4-6) haven't even played a regular-season game outside of the Eastern Time Zone for 53 years.
           
"They're rested," Douma said. "They're going to be a much more physical team. They rebound well. We'll see how tough we are. This will be a big-time gut check for us. We'll see what we can do."
           
A video webstream of Saturday's game can be accessed at https://youtu.be/QsiuUYvQBY4 with live stats at http://statb.us/central/886.