CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 27, 2004
MEN'S BASKETBALL
HOLLAND - A battered and bruised Calvin basketball team is one step away from
an NCAA III Tournament bid.
Calvin advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship final with a hard-fought
74-61 victory over Albion Friday night in an MIAA Tournament semifinal game at
the Holland Civic Center.
Calvin (18-9) will face Adrian (16-11) in Saturday's championship game at 7:30
p.m. at the Holland Civic Center with the winner receiving the MIAA's automatic
bid to next week's NCAA III Tournament. Adrian upended top-seeded Hope in
Saturday's second semifinal game by an 86-82 score.
Calvin will be making its ninth appearance in the MIAA Tournament finals with
the Knights holding a 4-4 record in championship play. Saturday's championship
tilt will provide a rematch of the 2001 MIAA Tournament final which Calvin won
by a 77-63 score at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
Heading into Friday night's game against Albion (20-8), Calvin had dropped six
of its previous nine games against the Britons dating back to the 2001 season.
On Friday however, it was Calvin that took control as the Knights used a 12-0
run late in the first half to build a 38-25 halftime lead. Of its 38 first
half points, 21 came from Calvin's bench as sophomore reserves Andy Draayer and
Kyle Trewhella hit for 10 and eight points respectively in the opening 20
minutes.
Calvin built its lead to 17 at 48-31 five minutes into the second half but
Albion was not done. Using a 12-3 run over a four-minute stretch, the Britons
crept to within seven at 56-49 with junior Michael Thomas providing eight of
Albion's points in the spurt.
A shot in the lane by Calvin junior Dan Aultman and a subsequent three-pointer
by junior point guard Ricky Shilts put the Knights back up by double-digits at
61-49 and the Britons would never seriously threaten again.
Aultman led the Calvin charge with 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting, despite
having not practice in more than a week because of a concussion suffered in
Calvin's 75-64 loss to Hope on February 18. Battling chronic foot problems,
Shilts was next with 13 while Draayer finished with his 10 first half points.
Sophomore forward Brian Roelofs also gave the Knights a big lift with six
points and three rebounds off the bench despite playing with a fractured
cheek-bone suffered in Calvin's first round MIAA Tournament victory over
Kalamazoo Wednesday night. Playing with a badly bruised shoulder, senior Kevin
Broene was also big for the Knights, scoring nine points on 4 of 6 shooting.
Overall, Calvin shot 53.1 percent from the field including 8 of 14 (.571) from
three-point range and 14 of 20 (.700) at the free throw line. Conversely,
Calvin held Albion to just 29.7 percent field goal shooting including just 6 of
27 (.222) from beyond the three-point arc.
"Our plan was to double the post and force them to shoot from the perimeter,"
said Calvin coach Kevin Vande Streek afterwards. "We felt that Albion's
strength was its inside game and that its outside shooting was perhaps a bit of
an achilles' heel.'
Albion took 17 three-point shots in the first half and I felt that our
interior defense played a big role in that," he continued. "I thought we
played excellent defense in the second half against Kalamazoo Wednesday night
and I think that (defensive) intensity carried over into this game."
Albion was led in scoring by Thomas who collected 26 points but connected on
just 7 of 25 field goal attempts. Senior Joe Finland added 10 points off the
bench for the Britons. Calvin also won the rebounding battle, finishing with
37 boards to the 36 of Albion with senior Chris Prins leading the Knights with
six caroms. Senior center Ryan Smalligan also played a key role for the
Knights, finishing with five rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two
steals.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday's MIAA Tournament Championship final between Calvin and Albion is set
for 3:00 p.m.. A live webcast of the game will be available on the Calvin web
site at: www.Calvin.edu/thegame
Tickets will be available at the door with the doors scheduled to open at 2:00
p.m.. Fans are invited to bring their children early to have their picture
taken with Calvin mascot "Cal The Knight" who will be in the Calvin Fieldhouse
lobby beginning at 2:40 p.m. to Calvin fans.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Feb 28 00:02:16 2004
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Feb 28 2004 - 00:02:17 EST