News Release

PELLA, Iowa — A late seven-minute scoring drought spelled trouble for Central College as Cornell College rallied for a 54-45 Iowa Conference men’s basketball victory Friday.

Central saw a 10-point second-half lead melt away. The Dutch were up 25-16 at intermission and still led 41-31 with 9:31 remaining. It was 43-34 at the 8:47 mark following a bucket by forward Scott Huisman, but then Cornell scored 17 unanswered points. The Dutch didn’t score again until just 27 seconds were left and the Rams had taken a 51-43 lead.

Cornell rebounded after shooting just 20.8 percent in the first half, hitting 52 percent in the second half while Central slipped to 33.3 percent and shot 35.7 percent for the night. The Dutch connected on just 10.5 percent from three-point range.

Cornell’s Jeff Ecker led all scorers with 16 points while Dan McClanahan had 13. Huisman had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

“We were not very good tonight,” said coach Mike Boschee. “When we shoot 2-of-19 from beyond the arc, it’s going to be hard to win.

“We weren’t patient enough to get the ball inside on a regular basis. We’ve got to make better decisions.”

Central slips to 4-14 overall and 2-8 in the league. Cornell is 5-12 overall and 2-6 in conference play. Central plays host to Wartburg Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kuyper Gym.