Van Gorp becomes the all-time leading scorer in Central men's basketball history
Brand sets new career high
Pella, IA (02/17/2025) — It was a record-breaking night inside P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium as Joshua Van Gorp (5th-year, Pella, Pella Christian HS) became the all-time leading scorer in Central College men's basketball history.
Van Gorp scored 16 points in the game and now has 1,859 career points passing Colby Taylor who played from 2013-2017.
"He has had an unbelievable career. He has gotten better each season, and he keeps adding to his game," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "We are really happy for him to see his hard work pay off becoming the leading scorer in program history. He got off to a great start in today's game, but Dubuque was able to limit him in the second half."
As for the game, the University of Dubuque came away with a 78-67 win over Central after a dominant second half.
The Dutch got off to a hot start shooting 48.5% from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range in the first half. The Dutch led Dubuque 44-37 at halftime. In the second half the Spartans were able to shoot 51.9% from the field and limit Central to 23 points on 35.7% shooting.
"In the second half Dubuque really showed their length and forced us into turnovers," Steinkamp said. "We also couldn't hit any timely shots to help loosen it up inside. To beat a team as good as Dubuque is we needed to play better."
Kaleb Brand (5th-year, Mount Vernon) set a new career high scoring 31 points on 12-24 shooting to lead the team. He added seven rebounds, including four offensive rebounds, and dished out six assists, while playing 38 minutes.
"Brand had a really good all-around game," said Steinkamp. "He has developed a really nice floater, so it was nice to see him get rolling with that today. Dubuque's defense is elite so for him to have 31 points is impressive."
Owen Schipper (freshman, Waukee) was the third central player to reach double figures scoring 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three. He added seven rebounds and two assists while playing for 39 minutes.
"Schipper had a great shooting game as well, he continues to do a lot of different things for us. Today his defense was outstanding throughout the game," Steinkamp said.
Central returns to the court when Nebraska Wesleyan University comes to P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
"We need to keep getting better and not get discouraged from these past few losses," said Steinkamp. "Even though we have been playing good basketball, and we have been scoring the ball. We got to learn from it, and we still have a lot of belief in this team and believe our best basketball is ahead of us."