PELLA—Still a step ahead of the pack in the American Rivers race, the Central College men's basketball team needed another blue-collar effort to subdue Wartburg College 84-77 Wednesday, avenging an early season loss.
           
The Dutch (15-6 overall, 10-3 conference) remain just a game in front of the University of Dubuque and Nebraska Wesleyan University in the standings with three regular-season games remaining. The top six teams advance to the conference tournament which starts Feb. 21.
           
Yet again, Central's 6-foot-10 post duo logged a productive effort. Center Joshua Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) had 19 hard-earned points with seven rebounds and two blocks. And forward Grant Johnson (senior, Waukee, Van Meter HS) had his usual stat-stuffing night with 17 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks, It was his fifth double-double of the season.
           
Meanwhile, three-time team Hustle Award winner Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.) continued waging his campaign for another with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. He knocked down five 3-point shots.
           
"Offensively it was good to have balance again," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "Kade really got off in the first half. It was good to see him rolling. And Josh and Grant again did a good job of controlling the paint, playing off each other and just finding what the defense gave them."
           
It was a struggle at times. Wartburg (10-12 overall, 7-6 conference) led by as many as six points in the first half and came storming back after Central went up 70-57 with 3:50 to play, slicing the advantage to 74-70 with 1:56 left. But the Dutch made seven of eight free throw tries in the last 46 seconds to settle matters.
           
"It was a really good two-half game, I thought," Steinkamp said. "We just locked in defensively from the start. Wartburg is really good. They're a good offensive team. Their guards are really good and we tried to keep them off the 3-point line. They still made nine threes but I thought we did a good job of making them really work and their shots were highly contested."

A big part of that effort was guard Drew Edwards (senior, Eden Prairie, Minn.).

"Drew Edwards really played well defensively," Steinkamp said. "He was on their leading scorer and really made him work for his points."
           
Central outshot Wartburg 48.3% to 41.2% and finished ahead on the boards, 40-35. The Dutch blocked another seven shots and lead the NCAA Division III with 6.1 blocks per game. Central is also fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense, limiting foes to 36.9% shooting, and is 19th in rebounding margin, at plus 8.0 per game. Individually, Van Gorp ranks third in Division III in field goal percentage (69.2%).
           
"We're doing all the things that we really preach, like rebounding and defense," Steinkamp said. "Then when we can knock down threes on top of that, I think we're pretty tough to beat. I loved to see us share the ball again with 24 assists. We continue to be a high-assist team. Guys don't care who scores, they just want to try to help get an open shot every possession."
           
Central closes out its regular-season home schedule Saturday against Luther College in a women's-men's conference doubleheader. The men's game tips at 4 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. Luther is 8-14 overall and 5-9 in the conference after the Norse thrashed Loras College 71-54 at Dubuque Wednesday. Central escaped Luther at Decorah 62-60 Jan. 14.
           
"Every team in this conference is good," Steinkamp said. "The teams at the bottom can beat the teams at the top. There's a lot of parity. Our guys are really mature and they know that we've got to continue to take one game at a time. And we've got Luther coming to town Saturday, one of the hottest teams in the league, winning five of six. They're a really physical team and we really have got to be ready from the jump."