ST. PAUL, MINN.—Coach Joe Steinkamp had concerns about heading on the road Saturday with stat-stuffing big man Grant Johnson (5th-year, Waukee, Van Meter HS) temporarily sidelined by injury.
           
But his Central College men's basketball team had answers, using a dazzling first-half offensive display as the Dutch (8-2) raced to an 87-73 victory at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.).
           
Replacing the 6-foot, 10-inch Johnson with freshman shooting guard Brad Curren (Harlan), Central turned up the tempo and streaked to a 22-6 lead in the first 6 minutes. The Dutch attacked the basket relentlessly on the break, hitting their first 10 shots and hitting 76% from the floor its lead to build their lead to as much as 50-28 with 1:51 left. Nearly 8 minutes elapsed before Central's first miss. Even after misfiring on its last four shots, Central hit 65.5% from the field for the half and led 50-32.
           
"We came out and played an excellent first half," Steinkamp said. "We played extremely fast. Our defense was really quick and we made shots. We were scoring in a lot of different ways."
           
All-American center Joshua Van Gorp (senior, Pella) took advantage of the undersized Eagles with 29 points and seven boards.
           
"Josh was really good on the interior with 29 points and only needed 19 shots," Steinkamp said.
           
Point guard Drew Edwards (5th-year, Eden Prairie, Minn.), playing not far from his home, put on a show as well with a near triple-double. He shared team-high rebounding honors with eight, passed out nine assists, and hit all four of his shots from the field for nine points.
           
"Drew really showed his all-around game today," Steinkamp said. "He ignited us in transition, played great defense and was really efficient from the field."
           
Forward Kaleb Brand (senior, Mount Vernon), likewise, was 5-of-5 from the field, scoring 16 points. Curren, in his first start, had 10 points and forward Kole Tupa (senior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) had eight rebounds.
           
"We did a really good job of getting in transition even off some of their made shots," Steinkamp said. "We were able to score before they even got set up. With Grant out of the lineup, that was one of the things we talked about is that we would play a little bit faster and I thought the guys did a really good job of that."
           
For the game, Central outshot Northwestern-St. Paul 54.0% to 43.7% and held a 39-27 rebounding advantage.
           
"I was happy with the way we rebounded," Steinkamp said. "We got some second-chance points and we were plus-12 on the boards even without Grant, who is one of our best rebounders. I thought Kole (Tupa) had a good rebounding game and Nolan Brand (senior, Mount Vernon) came off the bench and gave us some offensive rebounds. He changes the energy of the game."
           
Brand finished with eight points and five boards in 18 minutes of action.
           
Northwestern-St. Paul slipped to 7-4.
           
"Northwestern is a good team," Steinkamp said. "They had some really nice wins coming in and we were on the road coming off finals. But I thought (assistant coach Conor Riordan) had a really good game plan. Especially in that first half, we took away a lot of their tendencies and did a good job of taking away a lot of what they wanted to do."
           
Central takes a break for Christmas before returning for a trip to Gallatin, Tennessee for the Music City Classic Dec. 29-30. The Dutch take on Heidelberg University (Ohio) in a first-ever meeting at 3 p.m. Dec. 29. The Student Princes are 7-2 after defeating Muskingum University (Ohio) 84-70 Saturday and have notched two wins over nationally ranked opponents.
           
"They're all tough games from here on out," Steinkamp said. "But we're excited about our schedule and excited to keep playing."