Dana JV piles on to Central's woes

COLUMBUS - With an 11-point lead and 17 minutes left to play, the Central men's basketball team looked like it was going to snap a five-game losing streak.

Dana College's Tony Braithwait had other ideas.

Braithwait scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to help the junior varsity Vikings rally to defeat the Raiders 88-77 Wednesday night at the Raider Field House.

Central committed 10 turnovers and went 14 of 35 (40 percent) from the field in the second half for its sixth straight setback. Raider coach Jake Gutierrez said Central is just getting outplayed late during the losing streak.

“We get up by eight or 10 points, then we go and make some silly mistakes and don't take care of the ball when we need to, have poor shot selection and miss easy shots,” Gutierrez said. “We need to do the little stuff to win some games.

“But give Tony credit, he shot the ball very well. I know he had some family down here, and he played very well. He made some 3s down the stretch that hurt us.”

Braithwait, an Arapahoe native, made seven of the Vikings' 11 3-pointers in the game. However, Dana coach Chris Fear said the comeback was more than just Braithwait, who scored only six points during a 85-70 loss to Central on Jan. 11.

“Our kids had more desire and passion than they did the last time we played them,” Fear said. “I'm sure that left the kids wanting to prove something. (Central) is really physical, and our kids weren't ready for that last time.”

After the Raiders' Matt Kirkland putback a missed shot, Dana responded with a 29-10 run to erase a 53-42 deficit.

During the stretch, Mike Foust was hit with a technical foul for hanging on the rim after missing a dunk. Dana made both free throws, and Jake Hanika scored to turn what could have been a 62-54 Central lead into a 60-58 advantage. Braithwait scored eight of the final 10 points, including two 3-pointers, in the run.

The Raiders' last gasp came with a 9-1 spurt. Trey Lamont scored four points, and Bobby Weaver, who finished with 16 points, canned a trey to cut the deficit to one.

However, two free throws from Danny Petersen and two more 3-pointers from Braithwait kept the Raiders at bay.

Central was also hurt by poor free-throw shooting and finished 7 for 21 for the game.

“I didn't realize it was that bad,” Gutierrez said after the game. “Most of those misses came from our big guys. That hurt us tonight, especially when we were trying to build the lead up early in the second half.”

The Raiders are off until Feb. 8 when they play Southeast Central Community, which they lost to on Tuesday. Gutierrez said he hopes the week off will help them get off the six-game losing skid.

“We get some time to get back into the gym and correct some of the mistakes we need to work on,” Gutierrez said.

Dana JV 35 53 - 88

Central CC (12-10) 43 34 - 77

n Dana JV-Joey Brownfield 2-3 3-3 4 8, Derek Floerchinger 5-9 3-3 4 15, Trent Albers 2-4 2-4 2 6, Aage Jensen 1-1 3-5 0 5, Tony Braithwait 8-13 2-2 1 25, Jake Hanika 1-3 1-2 1 3, Blake Maaske 4-6 0-3 1 8, Danny Petersen 2-3 2-2 1 6, Scott Leisy 3-9 3-4 3 10, Chris Walker 1-3 0-0 2 2. Totals 29-55 19-28 19 88.

n Central CC-Dane Carlini 0-0 0-0 1 0, Bandak Chei 2-3 0-0 3 4, Avery Walker 4-7 2-7 3 10, Bobby Weaver 7-14 1-1 4 16, Jared Payne 5-14 1-1 2 13, Jerry Freeman 4-7 0-2 4 8, Matt Kirkland 4-7 1-5 2 10, Steven Ruzek 1-3 0-0 4 3, Mike Foust 1-5 1-4 4, Trey Lamont 5-6 1-1 2 11. Totals 33-68 7-21 25 77.

n 3-point goals-Dana JV 11 (Braithwait 7, Floerchinger 2, Brownfield, Leisy), Central CC 4 (Payne 2, Weaver, Ruzek).