CSR (Hope Takes MIAA Tournament Title In Men's Basketball With 13-pt Win over Calvin)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2006 (Part Two)

MEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO HOPE IN MIAA TOURNEY FINALS
(Hope 68, Calvin 55)
Written by Annalise VenHuizen '08

GRAND RAPIDS * Tonight marked the 160th Calvin-Hope game and the third rivalry contest of the season. With the previous two games spilt between the teams, more than bragging rights was on the line; the prize was a MIAA Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. In a game in which the basket didn't look favorably on the Knights (22-6), Hope (26-2) pulled a way to a 68-55 victory and earned its 17th trip to the national tournament.

Though Calvin senior Kyle Trewhella (Rockford/Rockford) started off the game with a made jumper, Hope quickly established an 8-2 lead with 16:30 left to play. During these first few minutes, the Knights were 12 percent from the field, while Hope posted a 57 percent field goal percentage. The gap hovered around six until Hope put together back-to-back threes to lead by 11, 19-8. Calvin brought themselves within seven when freshman Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian) made two free-throws and senior Andy Draayer (Denver, CO/Denver Christian) added a three off a Hope turnover.

Hope then went on a 13-2 scoring run, interrupted only by a Micah Chappel (Wyoming/Wyoming Park) jumper. Draayer broke the run with a three-pointer and made two free-throws that were granted from a technical foul, that made the score 33-19 Hope. The rest of the first-half scoring came by the way of free-throws: six for Hope and two for Calvin's Veldhouse. Hope led by 18 points, 39-21, at the half.

The second half began with a string of scoreless exchanges, put to an end by a Veldhouse break-away lay-up, 39-23. Scoring was even until Hope's Eric Voisin put together six consecutive points to give Hope a 22-point lead, 49-27. The Knights received a confidence boost when Draayer sunk a three-pointer. The shot began an 11-2 run capped off by a Trewhella three, making it a 13-point game, 51-38. Three Hope free-throws were answered by another Trewhella three, which was answered by a Hope three-pointer. Veldhouse contributed a three-point play to make the score 56-44. Hope was able to reestablish a 16-point margin with three minutes left.

Though Calvin closed out the game outscoring Hope 9-6, a stretch that included another three from Draayer, Hope was far enough ahead to hold a double-digit lead to the end, winning 68-55.

High scorers for Calvin were Draayer with 16 points, including 4 threes, Veldhouse with 15 points, and Trewhella with 10 points. Senior Kyle Snoeyink (Grandville/Calvin Christian) had a game-high 10 rebounds.

For Hope, Greg Immink had 15 points, Stephen Cramer added 14, Voisin had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Marcus Vanderheide added 10 points.

Hope's Head Coach Glenn Van Wieren noted about the game, "Calvin earned the victory when we played them the first time here. But we still felt that we had something to show on this court. Our guys played with great energy on defense."

Coach Kevin VandeStreek agreed that this was a defensive victory for Hope. "They really did the dictating defensively*we had a really difficult time in the first half trying to execute anything offensively."

While Hope is guaranteed its 17th trip to the NCAA tournament, Calvin will await the committee's decision for an at-large bid. News of the bid is expected to be released tomorrow night at 10:00, while the brackets and game sites will be released on Monday morning at 8:00.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Feb 25 22:38:09 2006