CSR (Men's BBALL Falls at Albion/W Swim/Dive Tops St. Mary's)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT (PART TWO) FOR JANUARY 10, 2004

MEN'S BASKETBALL

ALBION * Albion's recent mastery over Calvin continued on Saturday night at Albion's Kresge Gymnasium as the homestanding Britons defeated the Knights 77-71.

The victory was Albion's fifth in its last six meetings against Calvin including its sixth in its last eight. It also snapped a two-game losing streak by the Britons while also ending the three-game win streak by the Knights.

Albion broke the game open with dominating runs to end the first half and to open the second half as the Britons scored seven unanswered points over the final seven minutes of the first half to build a 41-32 halftime lead, and then scored eight straight points in the opening three minutes of the second half to take a 49-32 lead.

Calvin (7-6 overall, 1-1 MIAA) came back to whittle the lead down to six points at 52-46 on a pair of free throws by senior Kevin Broene (Grand Rapids Christian HS) with 10:39 remaining to cap a 14-3 run. Albion responded with seven unanswered points to build a 13-point edge at 59-46 with 8:30 to go however and would hold at least an eight-point lead until a bucket by Broene at the final buzzer provided the final six-point margin of victory.

Calvin opened the game with a flourish, taking a 15-5 lead in the opening 4:18 of play but the Knights began to wilt at that point as the Britons (9-4 overall, 1-1 MIAA) outscored Calvin 36-17 the rest of the first half.

"Albion's physical play is very difficult for us to handle," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. "It's been that way for some time and we knew that coming in. As the game progressed, we started to wear down and we just weren't able to get over the hump. I give a credit to Albion for playing disciplined and strong for the duration of the game."

Albion's frontline of junior Travis DuPree (Holland HS) and sophomore Brandon Crawford was particularly damaging to the Knights as both players came up with double-double performances. DuPree posted 13 points and 11 rebounds while Crawford had 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. "I thought Crawford was outstanding for them," said Vande Streek. "Without a doubt, he was one of the key players of the game for them."

Junior guard Michael Thomas also had a big game for the Britons with a game-high 22 points including 12 in the first half while junior guard Marcus Gill added 15 points.

Calvin was led by junior Dan Aultman (Mason County Central HS) who collected 16 points to extend his double-figure scoring streak to 13 games while seniors Chris Prins (Escondido, CA) and Kevin Broene (Grand Rapids Christian HS) added 12 points apiece. Senior Ryan Smalligan (East Grand Rapids HS) added eight rebounds, six points and four blocked shots.

Calvin shot just 34.8 percent from the floor after shooting over 50 percent in its two previous games. The Knights were also just 9 of 30 from beyond the three-point arc (.300) along with a 14 of 18 showing (.778) at the line. After shooting below 30 percent in its previous two games, Albion connected on 42.4 percent of its attempts against Calvin. Albion also held a commanding 50-37 rebounding edge.

Through two games, Olivet holds the league lead with a 2-0 conference mark while Adrian, Albion, Calvin, Hope and Kalamazoo are all locked in a five-way tie for second place.

Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Kalamazoo for a 7:30 p.m. contest at the Anderson Athletic Center * a place where Calvin has not won since the 1999-2000 season.

OTHER MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES SATURDAY

Adrian 77, Hope 71
Olivet 52, Kalamazoo 50
Tri-State 95 Alma 89 (non-conference)

MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-10-04

Olivet 2-0
Adrian 1-1
Albion 1-1
Calvin 1-1
Hope 1-1
Kalamazoo 1-1
Alma 0-1

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-10-04

Hope 6-0
Calvin 4-1
Albion 3-2
Alma 2-2
Kalamazoo 2-3
Adrian 1-3
St. Mary's 0-3
Olivet 0-4

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

**Editor's Note: Diving Results were not made available for Saturday's dual meet with St. Mary's. If the results become available at a later time, they will be sent out as an additional report extra**

NOTRE DAME, IN * Calvin upped its dual meet record to 5-3 including 3-1 against MIAA competition with a 119-84 victory against St. Mary's Saturday afternoon in a meet held at Notre Dame University.

In the swimming events, Calvin took first place in every event but two as St. Mary's gained victories in the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay.

Calvin featured three double-winners with sophomore Abby Johnson (Grand Haven HS) winning the 200 freestyle (1:58.61) and 200 backstroke (2:16.23) while freshman Rebekah Weima (Grand Rapids Christian HS) won the 50 freestyle (24.41) and 200 butterfly (2:16.28) with freshman Alex Wilson (Ellsworth, OH) winning the 200 IM (2:21.10) and 200 breaststroke (2:36.02). Sophomore Lynn Visser (Jenison HS) also won the 1,000 freestyle (11:37.04) and just missed a victory in the 500 freestyle, clocking in with a second place time of 5:34.77.

Calvin's 200 medley relay team of Johnson, freshman Barbara Frazier (Port Huron, MI), Weima and freshman Liz Ingebrigtsen (Bensenville, IL) also took first place with a time of 1:55.64.

The Calvin men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to action next Saturday when they compete in dual meets at Alma scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m..

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Jan 10 22:20:02 2004