MEN'S BASKETBALL
(Men's basketball story written by Lynn Rosendale, Calvin Coordinator of
Publications)
While Calvin sophomore Bryan Foltice didn't have a lot of points
Wednesday night, he had the three that really mattered in the end.
Foltice's buzzer-beater from 3-point land was enough to send the
Calvin-Hope men's basketball game into overtime and eventually secure an
84-82 victory and the MIAA conference championship for the Knights
playing before a sold-out crowd at the Holland Civic Center.
"I really was not having a good night," said Foltice. "I was joking with
Jeremy after the game saying that his pass to me at the end was like
Michael Jordan passing off to Steve Kerr. But Jeremy still had faith in
me in the end.
"Did I think it was going in? Absolutely not. I think I willed it into
the hoop," he added.
Foltice had nine points on the night, five below his game average, but
Calvin's Nate Burgess made up for it scoring a career-high 21 points in
the victory, including two threes in the overtime period.
"I started click down the stretch and I had a couple of good looks at
the end and those are the kinds of shots you have to stick," said
Burgess.
While Burgess' two threes, including the game winner, weren't designed
plays, they're always a possibility with Jeremy Veenstra in the game,
said Coach Kevin VandeStreek.
"All of those plays were designed to go to Jeremy," said VandeStreek.
"That doesn't mean he always gets the shot, but the thing he does best
is pass. People don't realize that because he scores so much, but when
he gets the ball and draws the double team he is so good at finding the
open man."
Veenstra led all scorers with 23 points and 16 rebounds, notching his
12th career double-double in the process. All 16 of his boards came on
the defensive glass.
While the victory was up for grabs until the final shot in overtime,
Calvin appeared to have it under control in the first half.
The Knights built up a ten-point lead at 24-14 midway through the first
half. Hope, however, whittled away at the lead and after a scoring
flurry by Chad Carlson, who led Hope with 19 points, had the score
knotted 36-36 at the half.
The second half was the reverse of the first with Hope taking the early
lead and building up a seven-point lead several times in the second
half.
Burgess tallied four of his points late in the half rallying the Knights
to within one at 65-64.
Veenstra then drove inside for two more and had the Knights in the lead
for the first time since early in the second half.
Hope's Ryan Klinger nailed a three with 90 second remaining in the
contest giving the Dutchmen a two-point lead.
Chad Zagar was fouled on Hope's next possession and made both shots from
the line putting the Dutch up by a near-impossible four with 30 seconds
remaining.
Veenstra then took the ball all the way down the court and drove in
untouched to bring the Knights to within two.
Hope's Matt Taylor was fouled on the next possession but only hit one of
this free throws leaving the door slightly open for the Knights.
Veenstra drove inside drawing a double team leaving Foltice open for the
three knotting the score at 71-71.
"We've been practicing two-minute games since the second week of
practice," said VandeStreek. "We practice playing and making decisions
without calling a timeout. I just want them to be sure they know the
point differential and how much time is on the game clock. We gave it to
Jeremy to make a play. He drew a double team which left Bryan open. I've
seen it many times before."
In the overtime, Hope took the early lead and had it again at 79-78 off
an inside shot by Don Overbeek, who tied Carlson with a team-leading 19
points. But Burgess' two threes in the final minute gave Calvin the
84-82 victory.
The victory allowed Calvin to clinch it third straight MIAA title
including its second straight outright crown. Since Calvin joined the
MIAA for the 1953-54 season, the Knights have captured 25 MIAA titles
The Knights also clinched the top seed for next week's MIAA Tournament,
giving Calvin a first-round bye and homecourt advantage for the MIAA
Tournament semifinals and championship game (February 23 & 24).
Calvin will host Alma Saturday at 3:00 pm at the Calvin Fieldhouse in
the regular season finale for both teams. Calvin will be seeking its
20th victory Saturday. The Knights have reached the 20-win plateau 11
times in school history.
OTHER MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Albion 77, Alma 68
Olivet 82, Kalamazoo 73
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-14 GAMES
Calvin 9-2
Albion 7-4
Hope 7-4
Olivet 5-6
Adrian 4-7
Kalamazoo 4-8
Alma 3-8
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
For one half of basketball, Calvin had the nationally-ranked Hope
women's basketball team back on its heels. Leading 33-30 at halftime,
the Knights were unable to sustain the same effort in the second half as
the sixth-ranked Flying Dutch came back for a 60-51 victory at the
Calvin Fieldhouse to clinch the MIAA title outright for the second
straight year and stretch their winning streak to 17 games.
Despite the loss, Calvin (12-11 overall, 7-6 MIAA) clinched homecourt
advantage for the first round of the MIAA Tournament as Kalamazoo downed
Olivet 86-57 to drop the fifth place Comets to 5-8 in the MIAA, two
games back of Calvin with one conference game left to play.
Calvin travels to second place Alma Saturday. The Knights are one game
behind third place Kalamazoo (8-5). Regardless of Saturday's outcome
against Alma, the Knights are assure of the fourth seed for next week's
MIAA Tournament. The Knights will host a first round tournament game
next Tuesday against fifth-seeded Olivet.
In Wednesday night's game against Hope, Calvin jumped out to an 8-2
lead, connecting on its first four shots of the game. Hope (21-2
overall, 13-0 MIAA) came back to take a 17-12 lead. Calvin took a 24-21
lead on a three-pointer by sophomore Tricia Dyk (Western Michigan
Christian) with 5:38 left in the half. Hope would regain the lead
moments later before the Knights closed the half with a 7-0 run to take
a three-point lead into the lockerroom.
Calvin shot 53.6 percent in the first half including 3-of-6 from
three-point range with Plakmeyer scoring all 11 of her points in the
first half.
The second half would prove to be a different story as the Knights came
up with just five second half field goals on 26 attempts for a frigid 19
percent clip. Hope took its first lead of the half at 35-34 on a jumper
by sophomore Amy Baltmanis at the 18:25 mark. The Flying Dutch never
trailed again, stretching their lead to as many as 13 points before the
Knights closed the margin to single digits on a pair of free throws by
junior Tara Bergsma (Calvin Christian) in the closing seconds.
Calvin finished the game with a 37 percent field goal clip, connecting
on 20-of-54 attempts overall. The Knights were also 4-of-12 (.333) from
three-point range and 7-of-12 (.583) at the free throw line. Hope shot
42.3 percent (22-of-52) overall while also hitting 86.7 percent
(13-of-15) of its free throw attempts.
Hope outrebounded Calvin 37-30 with the Knights committing 25 turnovers
and Hope 23 turnovers.
In addition to Plakmeyer's 11 points, the Knights received 10 points
from sophomore Emily Mejeur (Kalamazoo Christian) off the bench. Dyk
had another strong all-around game, collecting nine points, seven
rebounds, five steals and four assists while junior Kendra Toonstra
(Calvin Christian) had eight points and six rebounds and sophomore Mandy
VanDenBosch seven points, six rebounds and three steals.
Hope was led in scoring by sophomore Amanda Kerkstra who came up with a
game-high 21 points while Baltmanis had 13 points and junior Jodi Boom
10 points.
Saturday's game at Alma will begin at 3:00 pm.
OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Adrian 75, St. Mary's 55
Alma 70, Albion 65
Kalamazoo 86, Olivet 57
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-14 GAMES
Hope 13-0
Alma 11-2
Kalamazoo 8-5
Calvin 7-6
Olivet 5-8
Albion 3-10
Adrian 3-10
St. Mary's 2-11
-end-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 15 2001 - 01:09:51 EST