-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Tray Croft of Iowa Central drives towards the basket against Southwestern on Wednesday

Iowa Central sophomore Tray Croft said he blamed himself for the Tritons’ two losses to start the new year, even though he didn’t step on the court once in either game.

Croft more than made up for that absence here Wednesday night as the Tritons topped defending national champion Southwestern, 83-79, at Hodges Fieldhouse.

Coming off a wrist injury that forced him to watch the first two games of the new year, Croft scored 33 points in his return last night, none bigger than the final bucket he sank with just 7.7 seconds left to give the Tritons an 80-79 lead.

“The wrist feels great,” said Croft, who hadn’t seen any actual game time since Dec. 16. “It felt good coming back. I felt like I let my team down by hurting my wrist and not playing those two games. I felt like I owed it to them to give them everything I could tonight.”

Croft finished 11-for-22 from the floor, including four three-point buckets. He also made 7-of-9 free throws.

“It helps to have Tray Croft back,” said Iowa Central Coach Dennis Pilcher. “He makes this easier for us. Southwestern contained him a little bit, but you can’t stop him from going to the basket. We just beat a good basketball team. We got down, but we kept working at it. That’s a big win.”

Dallas Bailey added 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Iowa Central, now 14-4 overall and 1-1 in the ICCAC. Royshawn Webb added 17 points.

“We made a statement with this win,” added Croft. “This feels great.”

Alijah Thomas led four Southwestern players in double figures with 19 points. Ryan Warren and Terence Shelby each scored 14 and Gatdoar Kueth scored 13 for the Spartans (14-4, 1-1). Shelby also had 19 rebounds.

“We had some spurts where we played well defensively and then we had spots where we broke down,” Pilcher said. “I thought maybe it would come down to who made the last mistake.”

The Spartans led 77-71 with 2:07 to play, but would score just one more bucket the rest of the way. Croft hit two free throws to start the final Iowa Central run and the Tritons went ahead 78-77 with 50 seconds left on another bucket by Croft.

Southwestern was called for traveling on its next possession, but the Spartans stole the inbounds pass and Thomas scored to put the visitors up 79-78 with 24 seconds left.

Iowa Central worked the clock for a final shot and Croft drove the lane and scored for an 80-79 advantage.

Bailey then blocked a final shot attempt by the Spartans, which led to a crazy finish.

The horn went off after Bailey’s block, but the officials had called a foul on Southwestern. The Spartans bench then got a technical foul and Iowa Central made three of four free throws for the final total.

There was .3 seconds left when Southwestern inbounded the ball, but a three-quarter court shot wasn’t close.

The game featured a plethora of runs by each team. Iowa Central fell behind 10-3 early, then went on a run to lead 17-12. Southwestern came back to lead 26-19 then Iowa Central pulled even at 34-all with 2:32 to play on a three-pointer from Bailey.

But the Spartans closed the half on an 8-2 run to lead 42-36 at the break.

“We had talked about how basketball can be a game of spurts. This one definitely was. We just got the last one,” said Pilcher.

The second half was the same. Southwestern went up 51-44 with 13:38 left, but Iowa Central crawled back to tie it at 51-all with 14:15 to play.

Later, Southwestern got out to a 70-63 lead, but again Iowa Central came back, getting it to 70-69 with 5:37 to play.

The Spartans then went up 77-71 before Iowa Central finished on a 12-2 run.

“Dallas Bailey did a great job for us. He had 14 rebounds and that was big block for us at the end of the game,” Pilcher said. “We had that last spurt and were able to hang on.”

The Tritons finished 19 of 23 from the free throw line. Southwestern was 12 of 14.

The game featured three technical fouls. Besides the one on the Southwestern bench, Iowa Central’s bench received one and Iowa Central was assessed a technical when a T-shirt that was supposed to be thrown into the crowd hit a practice backboard in the rafters and ended up on the court.

The Tritons travel to Mason City to face NIACC Saturday at 3 p.m. They are back home next Wednesday against Iowa Lakes at 7:30. The Lakers have two former Fort Dodge players on their roster – Kyle Beisch and Solomon Clayton.

Iowa Central 83, Southwestern 79

Iowa Central – Tray Croft 11-22 7-9 33, Royshawn Webb 7-9 3-3 17, Bailey Dallas 5-16 8-9 20, Shannon Collin 2-3 0-0 5, Thomas Akamarmoi 1-5 0-0 2, Robert Hawkins 0-2 1-2 1, Bay Etheredge 0-0 0-0 0, Kemryn Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 19-23 83.

Southwestern – Alijah Thomas 6-11 4-4 19, Khallid Edwards 1-9 4-5 7, Chad Moran 0-5 0-0 0, Gatdoar 6-10 0-0 13, Terence Shelby 6-17 0-0 14, D’Marque Whittington 2-7 2-2 7, Ryan Warren 5-6 2-3 14, Kzhan Jimerson 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Lee 2-3 0-0 5, RoNeal Ross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-68 12-14 79.

Halftime score: Southwestern 42, Iowa Central 36. Three-point shots: Iowa Central 8-26 (Croft 4-8, Bailey 2-10, Shannon 1-2, Akamarmoi 0-1, Jenkins 1-5); Southwestern 11-36 (Thomas 3-6, Edwards 1-6, Moran 0-2, Kueth 1-3, Shelby 2-8, Whittington 1-6, Warren 2-3, Lee 1-2). Total fouls: Iowa Central 15, Southwestern 20. Fouled out: Kueth. Technical fouls: Southwestern, Iowa Central 2. Rebounds: Iowa Central 42 (Bailey 14), Southwestern 40 (Shelby 19). Assists: Iowa Central 8 (Bailey 3), Southwestern 11 (Thomas 5). Turnovers: Iowa Central 15, Southwestern 15.