March 28, 2024

Central men fall short of NCAA Tourney bid

Big night for Red Oak product Walker, Creston product Taylor in their final games for Dutch

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PELLA — A wild, crazy week for Central College’s men’s basketball team had the Dutch on the verge of a second straight trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.

In a season that has had many ups and downs, twists and turns, the latest twist was the most painful for the Dutch.

Wartburg rallied from a 13 point second half deficit to defeat Central 89-85 Saturday in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship game in front of a boisterous, capacity crowd at Kuyper Gymnasium.

Warburg, 19-9, advances to the NCAA Division III national tournament.

Central’s season ends at 16-14.

Central’s locker room was full of heartbroken faces after, emotions running over for a tightly-knit team.

“That was the toughest thing I’ve went through in my basketball career,” said junior Kyle Smith. “Colby (Taylor), (Austin) Glawe, (Ryan) Kunkel, Pete (Walker), all those seniors, all of them, they’re the reason you play. Those guys are committed every day. They’re leaders I’ve been looking up too since my freshman year.”

“They’re what you want in basketball players and as teammates.”

For Central coach Craig Douma, this senior class was extra special.

“This was the first group of kids I got a chance to recruit in the program,” Douma said. “What a special group of young men. They mean a lot to our program, the standard they’ve set. The bar is really high, the success they’ve had, the conference championships, two national tournaments, (Saturday). They’ve set the bar high. The expectations are so much higher in this program because of who they are and what they’ve done.”

Central dominated the opening 20 minutes, outscoring Wartburg 43-34.

The Dutch carried over the momentum they had in earning road wins over Simpson and Nebraska Wesleyan.

“It was a great first half,” Douma said.

Central carried that over into the second half, leading by 14, 61-47, with 12:47 to go.

The capacity crowd at Kuyper Gymnasium was roaring full throttle, feeding Central’s players.

“It was a great atmosphere, great energy,” Douma said. “We needed that little extra boost with the situation we had with our injuries.”

Wartburg started chipping away. With six minutes to go, the Knights had the lead cut to three, 70-67.

“Give Wartburg a lot of credit. They kept playing, kept scoring,” Douma said. “They really scored the ball well, shot the ball well. They hit open looks.”

The Knights took their first lead of the second half, 74-72, with 2:29 to go.

The Dutch and Knights traded buckets for the next minute and a half.

But a Jordan Cannon layup gave the Knights the lead for good.

“Cannon does what he does,” Douma said. “He got to the rim and finished.”

Wartburg made eight straight free throws to seal it.

“It was a game of makes and misses,” Douma said. “They made more than we missed.”

Wartburg’s offense made a number of shots with a Central hand in its face.

“They just made a bunch of tough shots,” Taylor said. “We were playing decent defense and they made some tough shots that they were going to have to make to come back.”

Central’s seniors stepped up throughout. Walker had 28 points and eight rebounds in his final game.

The loss stung deeply for the Red Oak product.

“It didn’t go our way,” Walker said. “We didn’t make enough shots, make enough plays.”

Walker’s ability to drive to the basket created offensive opportunities throughout.

“We’re not in this place without Pete Walker,” Douma said. “Pete attacks the hole hard. He’s a hard guy to guard. He didn’t shoot the three ball as well as he would’ve liked (going 2-of-13).”

Taylor’s play in the quarters and semis led the Dutch to the title game.

“He carried this group,” Douma said. “He’s really tough. He’s brought a lot to this team.”

Taylor scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range.

The Creston product did that despite a sprained right ankle.

He was in a walking boot after the game.

Taylor was not about to let the injury to keep him out of the title game.

“There was nothing that was going to keep me out of playing this last conference championship game,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t stopping me from doing anything.”

Taylor’s heart showed.

“He gave the best effort he could,” Douma said. “He’s a special player.”

This season meant much for the Dutch players and coaches.

To see it end one short of another trip to the NCAA tournament hurt.

“This year was a lot of fun playing with the guys,” Smith said. “Every one of them — these guys are my brothers. We say that after every break down. Them, coach, they’ve done their part to get us here.

“We’re bummed we couldn’t do it for the seniors.”

The run Central had reaching the title game is one they will remember.

“It was unbelievable,” Walker said.

Editor’s note — more on Taylor and his final game as a member of the Dutch will appear in Tuesday’s News-Advertiser.

— CNA senior features writer Larry Peterson contributed to this story