PELLA—In a bruising battle with the American Rivers leaders, the Central College men's basketball team's big men packed a punch Saturday.
           
Posting a pair of eye-popping stat lines, the 6-foot-10 duo of center Joshua Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) and forward Grant Johnson (senior, Waukee, Van Meter HS) combined for 46 points, 28 rebounds, 10 assists and nine blocked shots as the Dutch knocked off first-place Loras College 83-71.
           
Van Gorp put up career bests of 32 points and five blocked shots to go with 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Meanwhile Johnson narrowly missed recording the second triple-double in school history with 14 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and four blocks.
           
"You just don't see those kind of numbers that Josh had—32 and 13—very often," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "He just completely dominated the paint. Loras is a big physical team but he's hard to contain, he gets such deep position.
           
"And then Grant's line is unbelievable. He almost had a triple-double the other night, too. He just does so many things on the floor. He had a great all-around game."
            Central (9-4 overall, 4-1 conference), which entered the game ranked eighth in Division III in blocks per game (5.8), rejected 12 Saturday,
           
Loras (10-4 overall, 4-1 conference) came into the game averaging a league-best 83.1 points but was limited to 31.2% shooting, including just 24.4% in the second half. Central entered the game ninth in the NCAA Division III in field goal percentage defense and saw that number drop to 36.6%.
           
"Loras has one of the very best offenses in the league and we knew our defense had to be sharp tonight," Steinkamp said. "I thought we did a really good job of contesting shots. We have a lot of length, and we blocked a lot of shots and altered a lot of shots. I think that was really the key to the game."
           
Van Gorp is fifth in field goal percentage and drilled 15 of 18 shots Saturday, raising his season mark to 71.4%. And Johnson, who is eighth in Division III in blocks, now has 40 (3.0 per game). He's also the conference assists leader with 5.0 per game.
           
"Grant and Josh just complement each other so well," Steinkamp said. "Grant is such a good passer, he can see over the top of defenses and find guys that other players can't."
           
There were 18 lead changes in the physical affair and the Dutch trailed by as many as seven points. A desperation 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer by Brand sliced the Loras edge to 36-35 but Central was still down 55-50 with 11:02 to go. That's when the Dutch post duo went to work, fueling a 21-4 run that put them in command 71-59 with 3:35 remaining. Van Gorp and Johnson combined for 16 points in that stretch.
           
"Our guys just stuck with it," Steinkamp said. "They didn't get discouraged. They just kept fighting and battling. I was really proud of how they kept their composure down seven in the second half. The guys kept getting enough stops and then our offense started clicking."
           
It was more than a two-man job. The Dutch also got 12 points each from guards Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.) and Kaleb Brand (junior, Mount Vernon). Guard Drew Edwards (senior, Eden Prairie, Minn.) had six assists.
           
"I thought Kaleb Brand had a great game off the bench," Steinkamp said. "His three at the end of the first half was a huge momentum play. And then the last five or six minutes of the game he guarded their leading scorer and I thought he just really made him work. He's a great all-around player."
             
In a box score stuffed with notable numbers, Steinkamp highlighted a pair that some might overlook.
           
"I just love the 23 assists and only 10 turnovers," he said. "We haven't necessarily been a low-turnover team and that was one of the things I was worried about with Loras' pressure, but the guys handled it really well and continue to share the ball. No one really cares who gets the score. It's really fun to see how much they just care about winning and not who gets the credit."
           
Central shot 45.3% from the floor and outrebounded Loras 49-46.
           
But Steinkamp again noted that every conference game is likely to be a long day at the office.
           
"Everybody can beat everybody else in this conference," he said.
           
Central is home Wednesday for a conference women's-men's doubleheader with Buena Vista University. The men's game tips at 7:30 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium.