CSR (Men's basketball falls in NCAA tournament)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 4, 2004

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OH * The streak continues for the Blue Streaks of John Carroll University. In a first round NCAA III Tournament game Thursday night, host John Carroll handed Calvin an 88-77 defeat, extending its homecourt win streak to 29 games. John Carroll (23-5) advances to an NCAA III Tournament second round game Saturday night at Wittenberg University (24-4) in Springfield, Ohio, scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m..

Calvin (19-10) was making its 14th appearance in the NCAA III Tournament with Thursday night's game. The Knights are now 23-15 all-time in NCAA III Tournament competition.

The first half featured physical play on both sides of the ball. The referees let the teams play as the first foul wasn't called until ten minutes had elapsed in the game. Calvin was able to break the Blue Streaks full court press and take an early 12-4 lead. Six different players scored Calvin's first six field goals. John Carroll's defense sparked a run by the home team as the Blue Streaks outscored Calvin10-2 to tie the score at 14. Calvin took advantage of 17 first half turnovers by John Carroll to take a 27-18 lead with under eight minutes to go in the half. The Blue Streaks used excellent 3-point shooting to stay in the game and claw back to only a 39-36 halftime lead for Calvin. John Carroll shot 6-12 from beyond the arc in the first half. Calvin was led in the first half by senior Chris Prins (Escondido CA) who had 15 points. Senior Ryan Smalligan (East Grand Rapids) showed is defensive presence while collecting four points and six rebounds. Calvin shot 45 !
percent from the field including 0-9 from 3-point.

The second half was a different story for the Knights. The pressure defense of the Blue Streaks was Calvin's undoing as the Knights committed 17 turnovers in the second half. The physical play continued in the second half which enabled a deeper John Carroll team to pull ahead while Calvin could not find an answer to the Blue Streaks defense. Calvin held their last lead with about 11 minutes left in the game at 51-50, but then turnovers told the story and John Carroll went up 67-59 with under six minutes to play. Calvin showed signs of life when junior Ricky Shilts (Kalamazoo Central) and sophomore Kyle Trewhella (Rockford) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bring Calvin within two at 67-65 with under four minutes to play. The Knights were unable to come up with much more on offense and John Carroll pulled away with a 10-2 run. John Carroll was able to connect on 27 of 34 free throws in the game, which is 17 percent higher than their season average.

Prins led Calvin in scoring for his last collegiate game with 19 points while junior Dan Aultman (Mason County Central) collected 15 of his own. Trewhella and Shilts chipped in with ten and nine points respectively. Calvin shot 41 percent for the game while John Carroll shot only 37 percent. John Carroll out-rebounded Calvin 50-35.

Calvin coach Kevin VandeStreek commented on his teams final game of the season. "It was a game of two halves. In the first half, we did the dictating on both ends of the floor; but in the second half, they dominated us on the boards and their press started to get to us." About John Carroll he said, "John Carroll was the better team tonight, especially in the second half, they are an outstanding team and program."

Tonight marked the last game for four Calvin seniors. Prins, Smalligan, Kevin Broene (Grand Rapids Christian) and, Mike Natelborg (Highland IN) all finished their careers as Knights.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Thu Mar 4 21:48:11 2004