PLATTEVILLE, WIS.—Without its head coach or any late-game good fortune, the Central College men's basketball team sustained its first loss Saturday at Wisconsin-Platteville 66-65 Saturday.
A late 3-point flurry, including the go-ahead bucket with 9 seconds remaining, rallied the Pioneers (4-1), a traditional NCAA Division III tourney contender, in the intense contest. Central (5-1) was without coach
Joe Steinkamp who remained in Pella due to illness. The Dutch nonetheless temporarily broke open a tight game to take an 11-point lead with 4:16 left. But Wis.-Platteville quickly responded with three consecutive 3-point goals to help set up the winning score. The Pioneers knocked down six second-half 3-pointers, shooting 54.5% for the half from long range.
Guard
Kaleb Brand (senior, Mount Vernon) had 17 points and six rebounds while forward
Grant Johnson (5th-year, Waukee, Van Meter HS) once again stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and two assists for his third double-double of the season. Forward
Kole Tupa (senior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) added 12 points and nine boards with three assists.
"The guys played physical and did a really good job of guarding, we just got beat at the end," said assistant coach
Conor Riordan, who Steinkamp had credited for helping prepare an effective game plan in Central's 80-76 win over Simpson College last Tuesday. "We did a good job for the first 37 minutes of being really physical and not over-helping on screens but then went under a couple of their flare screens late in the game and they made us pay."
Wis.-Platteville collapsed its defense around Dutch center
Joshua Van Gorp (senior, Pella), who had eight points.
"They're a really physical team and did a good job of pushing Josh off the block," Riordan said. "They made it tough for us to get him the ball but he kept battling all night."
Central shot 41.1% for the game and outrebounded Wis.-Platteville 46-31.
Central is back in American Rivers action Wednesday with a women's-men's doubleheader against Buena Vista University at Storm Lake, with the men's game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. It's the conference opener for Buena Vista, which is 5-0 overall after a 97-71 romp past Elmira College (N.Y.) Saturday afternoon.
"The guys just have to regroup on Monday," Riordan said. "We've got three straight conference games now and we're taking them one at a time. BV is always tough. They're playing really well right now and scoring a lot of points, so we've got to be ready to go."
