CSR (Men's Basketball Snaps Losing Skid With Victory Over Aquinas)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR DECEMBER 7, 2006

Men’s Basketball Snaps Three-Game Losing Streak With Win Over Aquinas

MEN’S BASKETBALL
(written by Drew DeVries ’08)
Calvin 77, Aquinas 68

The Knights were looking to rebound from a three game losing skid heading into Thursday’s game against the visiting Saints of Aquinas. The game marked the second time these two teams have met this season. The first meeting came in the Select Bank Tournament in which the Knights ran away with a 81-65 victory. But it was a much different game this time around but the Knights were able to escape with a 77-68 victory.

Calvin (4-3) started the game off playing strong with solid defense which gave them an early 8-2 lead. But soon the Saints were able to frustrate the Knights as Calvin began turning the ball over and missing shots.

After a timeout in which the Knights were able to cool down, Calvin came out and scored nine straight behind the scrappy play of senior Josh Meckes Bay City/Saginaw Valley Lutheran) to go ahead 25-16. The Knights remained in the lead and after a period ending jumper by sophomore Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian), they led Aquinas 41-30.

In the second half, Aquinas (5-6) was able to stay in the game as the Knights were just not able to pull away. The Saints were getting offensive rebounds and many second chance scoring opportunities while Calvin struggled with turning the ball over.

Aquinas was able to cut the Knight’s lead to 64-57 with just under five minutes to go. But Calvin was able to go on a 9-0 run that in the end put away the Saints. Calvin’s scoring run put them up 73-57 with one minute to go and the Knights prevailed for the 77-68 victory.

Veldhouse led the Knights with 21 while Meckes added 16 and collected seven rebounds. Pedja Lazic for Aquinas led all scorers with 24.

Although the Knights got the win, head coach Kevin VanderStreek sees room for improvement partly due to the fact they suffered 22 turnovers. “We are such a young team so it’s going to take a lot of fine tuning. Learning the system here is just going to take time so we are going to have to learn to be patient.”

But VanderStreek was very pleased with the performance of his senior Meckes. “Josh played really well. He played how we want our seniors to play by being assertive and leading by example.”

The Knights will return to action December 15 when they face Trinity Christian College in a game that will be played at the United Center in Chicago. The game will be played at 4:00 p.m. and is part of a doubleheader of basketball as the Chicago Bulls will then play the Milwaukee Bucks later that night.
 

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Thu Dec 7 22:40:02 2006