CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 24, 2006
Calvin - Hope Showdown Set for MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship Game Saturday Night
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 66, Kalamazoo 55
GRAND RAPIDS * For the third straight year and for the 11th time overall, the Calvin men's basketball team has advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship game. The Knights advanced to the finals with a 66-55 semifinal round victory over Kalamazoo in front of more than 2,600 fans Friday night at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
Calvin will face rival Hope in the championship game Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with the winner receiving the MIAA's automatic bid to next week's NCAA III Tournament. Hope advanced to Saturday's final with a 76-65 victory over Albion in Friday's first semifinal game.
Saturday night's title tilt will feature the 160th meeting between the two storied rivals including the seventh time in MIAA Tournament play where Hope holds a 4-2 advantage over the Knights. In addition, it will be the fourth meeting between Calvin and Hope in an MIAA Tournament Championship game with Hope having won all three previous finals (71-60 in 1995, 63-62 in 1997 and 70-63 in 2002).
Saturday's game will also feature a pair of nationally-ranked teams as Hope (25-2) is ranked second in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll while Calvin (22-5) is ranked 13th.
In its win over Kalamazoo Friday night, Calvin once again trailed an opponent at halftime, falling behind the Hornets 33-31 at the break. Calvin outscored the Hornets 35-22 in the second half however, using a 21-6 run to pull away for the win. The second half outburst repeated a strong second half theme for the Knights as they have now outscored teams by a cumulative total of 1,049-908 in the second half of play this season.
Senior Andy Draayer (Denver, CO) led Calvin with 13 points with 11 coming in the second half. Freshman Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD) was next with 12 points with eight of his points coming in the second half. Junior center Josh Meckes (Bay City, MI) also had a big night, scoring 11 points, grabbing six boards, collecting three assists, three blocks and a pair of steals. Senior Kyle Trewhella (Rockford HS) chipped in with eight points including a pair of assists and a pair of steals.
After allowing Kalamazoo (11-16) to shoot 48.1 percent in the first half, Calvin tightened its defensive screws in the second half, limiting the Hornets to 28 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes of play. Calvin also held a 37-34 rebounding advantage including 21-16 in the second half.
Kalamazoo was led in defeat by senior point guard Tim Herman who scored a game-high 16 points while fellow senior Kyle Konwinski added nine points and four assists. Kalamazoo finished with a final shooting percentage of 38.5 percent.
Calvin is now 29-6 in MIAA Tournament play and 11-4 in semifinal games. The Knights are also 7-3 in MIAA Tournament Championship games.
For more on the Calvin-Hope basketball rivalry, please visit the Calvin web site at: http://www.calvin.edu/thegame
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Feb 24 23:52:45 2006
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