From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 27 2003 - 00:15:34 EST
CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 27, 2003
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin opened the 2003 MIAA Tournament with a 75-62 first round victory over
visiting Olivet Wednesday night, allowing the Knights to advance to the MIAA
Tournament semfinals for the 12th straight year.
The Calvin win sets up a semifinal meeting with Hope Friday night at 5:45 p.m.
at Albion's Kresge Gymnasium. The game will be the third meeting of the year
between the two storied rivals and the 153rd meeting overall. Calvin leads the
all-time series 78-73. The two teams split a pair of regular season games
earlier this year with Calvin winning 74-70 in Grand Rapids and Hope winning
the return match in Holland 92-76.
Friday's game will mark the first time since the 1980-81 season that the two
teams will officially play each other on a neutral site. In fact, Calvin and
Hope played two neutral site games that year with the Knights defeating the
Flying Dutchmen 84-66 in a season-opening tip-off tournament in Pella, Iowa,
and then edging Hope 69-67 in an MIAA playoff game at Middleville High School
at the conclusion of the MIAA regular season to determine the league's NCAA III
Tournament representative.
Calvin and Hope did face each other at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand
Rapids during the 1996-97 season but the game served officially as a home game
for the Knights.
Friday's second semifinal game will feature Adrian taking on host Albion at
8:30. Adrian advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals for the second time
in the last three years with a 78-70 win over Kalamazoo Wednesday evening.
In Calvin's victory over Olivet Wednesday evening, the Knights rolled out to a
17-5 lead in the opening seven-and-a-half minutes of play. Calvin junior Rob
Holleman (Chandler, MN) keyed the early run with six points off the bench.
Olivet answered with a 17-6 run over the next seven minutes to close to within
23-22 with 5:30 left in the half. Freshman De'Andre Pruitt was the Olivet
catalyst with seven points in the run.
With Calvin leading 32-28, Pruitt dropped in a three-pointer with under a
minute lef to allow the Comets to trail just 32-31 at halftime.
Olivet (11-15) continued to hang around in the second half, trailing just 42-40
with 15:45 remaining. Calvin (16-10) then ripped off a 14-3 rim over the next
five minutes to take control of the game with Holleman and junior Mike
Natelborg (Illiana Christian HS) contributing six points apiece in the spurt.
Olivet would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as the Knights
closed out the win.
Senior Jeremy Veenstra (Kalamazoo Christian HS) led the Knights with 17 points
and four rebounds as he moved past Steve Honderd and into second place on the
all-time Calvin rebounding list. Veenstra now has 879 rebounds in his Calvin
career. Veenstra was one of four Calvin players to reach double-digits in
scoring as Natelborg had 13 points and junior Chris Prins (Escondido, CA) and
Holleman 12 points apiece. Holleman also ripped down seven rebounds and
collected three steals in 11 minutes of action. Junior Kevin Broene (Grand
Rapids Christian HS) led Calvin in rebounding with eight boards while senior
Rob Dykstra (Tri-unity Christian HS) contrinbuted eight points and seven
rebounds.
Olivet was led by Pruitt who pumped in 16 points on the strength of four
three-point shots. Steve Johnson and Matt Brawley added 12 points apiece.
CAlvin finished with a 43.1 percent field goal clip including 75.0 percent
(15-of-20) from the free throw line. Olivet shot just 35.2 percent overall but
connected on 10 three-pointers on 29 attempts from beyond the arc.
Calvin held a 44-39 rebounding edge and outscored Olivet by 13 points at the
free throw line.
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