MOUNT VERNON — Another stifling defensive performance let the Central College men's basketball team continue its season-opening burst with a 67-52 Iowa Conference victory at Cornell College Saturday.

Tabbed for eighth in the league in a preseason coaches' poll, the Dutch are 2-0 in conference play and 5-1 overall.

Central limited Cornell to 37.0 percent shooting from the field, including just 25.0 percent in the first half as the Dutch sprinted to a 32-19 lead. Central shot 47.4 percent, including 55.2 percent in the second half. Central held a 41-28 rebounding advantage.

Cornell scored the game's first five points and was up 11-6 with less than 12 minutes to go in the opening half. But Central went on a 17-5 run to take control and the final 15-point margin was as close as Cornell could come in the second half.

"I think we've been getting better all year and tonight we were pretty locked in defensively," coach Mike Boschee said. "Cornell has two pretty good scorers in the guard court and we did a nice job of controlling them."

One of Central's defensive standouts, forward Chris Lehmann (senior, Champaign, Ill.), had his best offensive showing of the young season with 12 points along with six rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.

"Chris played well," coach Mike Boschee said. "He made a couple of big shots and he can do that. We've always pushed him to be more of an offensive threat. He's still growing."

Guard Demarco Turner (senior, Des Moines, East HS) had 11 points and a game-high four assists and four steals. Forward Jacob Winkler (junior, Lancaster, Mo., Schuyler R-1 HS) continued his strong inside play with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

"Jake can do a lot of things well," Boschee said. "He's providing us a big lift off the bench. We need him to play at a high level."

The Dutch had a balanced attack.

"We played good team basketball," Boschee said. "Our main agenda is to just find the open man.

"Our bench played really well tonight as well. We need to continue to get better."

Boschee was glad to get a conference road win, especially in Mount Vernon, where the Dutch have suffered losses in four of the last five years.

"This has always been a tough place to play," Boschee said. "It's nice to get a win."

Central continues league play with a women's-men's doubleheader against Coe College Wednesday at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. The women's game starts at 6 p.m. with the men's game at 8 p.m. Central split two games with Coe last year. The Kohawks are 3-3 overall and 1-1 in league play after a 70-58 setback at the University of Dubuque Saturday.

Live stats and a video stream of Wednesday's games will be available on the Central athletics website at www.central.edu/athletics.