SUPERIOR, WIS.—Coach Joe Steinkamp was impressed when he scouted Lawrence University (Wis.) Friday night at the Merrill Thompson Classic.
           
He was even more impressed with what he saw from his Central College men's basketball team Saturday, which broke into the win column with an 80-43 thumping of Lawrence. It was Steinkamp's first win as head of the program that he previously served as an assistant.
           
Central (1-2) streaked to a 21-8 lead in the first 12 minutes, was up 35-23 at intermission, then floored the accelerator with a 15-0 run to put the game on ice in the second half.
           
Center Joshua Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) was a force in the middle with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting along with six rebounds. Guard Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.) had 15 points, forward Grant Johnson (senior, Waukee, Van Meter HS) had a game-high 10 boards and point guard Drew Edwards (senior, Eden Prairie, Minn.) passed out six assists.
           
And a team that had some unsteady offensive performances in the early going shot 54.1% from the field.
           
"The guys really shared the ball," Steinkamp said. "We had 23 assists and had assists from a lot of different guys. I think it really started with Josh (Van Gorp). He really commanded the paint early on. His post-ups really draw the defense in and then everybody else started hitting after that."
          
 Yet it was that trademark Dutch defense that was the big difference, Steinkamp said.
           
"We really locked them up pretty much every possession," he said. "Even the ones they scored on, it was late in the shot clock and they were contested shots."
           
Lawrence dropped to 0-3, a mark Steinkamp termed misleading.
           
"The final score makes it look like we didn't play a good team but these guys are pretty good," he said. "They really played Wis.-Oshkosh tough in their opener and even against Wis.-Platteville last night, they were winning at halftime and had a five-point lead in the second half. But we just kind of broke them with our defense."
           
Steinkamp said his squad is capable of shooting well consistently.
           
"We're really trying to get those guys to get those shots up and shoot it with confidence," he said. "I thought our rebounding and defense really allowed us to push it. We want to be a transition team and be able to score before the defense gets set up. It was fun to see the ball really moving. We were flying up the court and really caught fire in the second half. Then it kind of became contagious."
           
Steinkamp liked the energy his team showed despite less than a 16-hour turnaround after playing the late game Friday against the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
           
"We had debated if we were even going to take our morning shootaround or just let the guys sleep," Steinkamp said. "But we got them up, got some shots up and they were really focused and ready to go."
           
He also cited his first-year assistant coach, Conor Riordan.
           
"I give Coach Conor a lot of credit," Steinkamp said. "It was a quick turnaround but he had their personnel scout really down and had us matched up on the right guys. He did a great job, too."
          
Central travels to another weekend event, meeting the host school in the Webster University (Mo.) Classic Friday at 8 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri. The Dutch take on Westminster College (Mo.) Saturday at 1 p.m. at Webster. Central last played Webster in 2015. The teams' only other meeting was in St. Louis in 2014, with the schools splitting the two games.
          
Saturday's win gives the Dutch a needed lift as they prepare for the next trip.
           
"This just makes the whole week of practice that much better," Steinkamp said. "The guys are starting to get some confidence and really see that some of the things we're doing are going to work. So I hope this gives us some momentum going into next week."