CSR (Big Monday Night for Calvin Basketball Teams)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 5, 2007

Big Monday Night For Calvin Basketball Teams

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 84, Adrian 65
(Written by Drew DeVries ’08)
 
GRAND RAPIDS * Calvin withstood a three-point shooting barrage by Adrian’s Desmond Young on Monday night to pull away for an 84-65 victory over the Bulldogs at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

Monday’s game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed two days because of wintry weather conditions that swept through the area over the weekend.

With the win, Calvin (12-8 overall, 7-3 MIAA) also moved into a tie for second place in the MIAA standings with Tri-State while Adrian (7-12 overall, 6-4 MIAA) slipped back into fourth.

Young collected 31 points on 12-21 shooting which included seven triples but it was not enough to offset five Calvin players notching double-digits in scoring.

"I'm glad he didn't get in the zone until late in the second half," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek of Young. "He was hitting deep threes from everywhere."

Vande Streek did cite the hard work of his team however.

"We played real hard," said Vande Streek, "but we made a few errors down the stretch and missed some free throws which allowed Adrian to stay in the game."

The Bulldogs got on the board first and started off with a 5-0 lead. Adrian applied heavy defensive pressure on the Knights causing a few turnovers early on and after some easy buckets inside the paint, the Bulldogs led 11-5 four minutes in. But out of a Calvin timeout, the Knights came out firing. Freshman Matt Veltema (Grandville/Calvin Christian) connected on a three pointer to give the Knights their first lead 17-14 with ten minutes remaining.

After falling behind by a point, Veltema answered with another triple, putting the Knights once again in control of the lead; a lead they would not lose for the remainder of the game. The Knights finished the final seven minutes of the half on a 16-2 scoring run that gave them a 37-24 halftime lead.

Calvin continued its scoring barrage into the second half scoring the first four points. The Knights continued to sizzle from the field as they shot 50 percent in the game. But Adrian was not about to go away. After hitting three pointer after three pointer, finishing with 13 triples in the game, the Bulldogs found themselves only down 11 with about twelve minutes to go. Calvin's lead was 52-41 after the 8-0 run by Adrian.

But Calvin answered with four straight coming from seniors Josh Meckes (Bay City/Saginaw Valley Lutheran) and Eric DeVries (Hudsonville/Unity Christian). Calvin's lead climbed back up to 16 but missed free throws and Desmond Young kept Adrian's hopes alive up until the final minute of play.

Sophomore Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian) led the Knights with 20 points and Veltema finished with 14. Derek Griffin (Whitehall/Muskegon CC) and Meckes each poured in 13 while Kyle Snoeyink (Grandville/Calvin Christian) added 10 to round up Calvin's players in double figures.

A big advantage in the game for the Knights was that they were sent to the free throw line 34 times to Adrian's 6 attempts.

Vande Streek was pleased with the effort from his players. "Our intensity level was great the whole way through. That's two games in a row now so hopefully we're getting on track for how we're supposed to play a game."

"We also handled Adrian's aggressiveness well," said Vande Streek. "We took it to the basket well which is what you have to do. Attack them back and not fall back on our heels; that's something we're getting better at."

He also felt Snoeyink had a nice game. "He's made progress in the last three weeks. A game played on instincts is great for Snoeyink because he's smart, instinctive, and very physical," Vande Streek said.

The Knights will now face rival first place Hope College Wednesday night in Holland for an 8:00p.m. contest. The game will feature the 164th meeting between the two teams in a series that spans 84 years and sees Hope holding an 82-81 series lead.

"I told our guys to focus on Adrian tonight and not look ahead to Hope. We did that and we can be happy for tonight but when that alarm goes off tomorrow, start thinking about Hope," said Vande Streek. "But I'm sure they're already thinking about them [Hope]."

MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-5-07
Hope 10-0
Calvin 7-3
Tri-State 7-3
Adrian 6-4
Albion 4-6
Olivet 3-7
Kalamazoo 2-8
Alma 1-9

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 75, Saint Mary’s 44
(written by Bruce VanBaren ’09)

The women’s basketball team, ranked third nationally, defeated St. Mary’s 75- 44, in a game originally scheduled for this past weekend but moved to Monday due to wintry weather conditions. With the win, the Knights remain undefeated in the MIAA advancing to 12-0 and move two games ahead of Hope College.

Calvin also picked up its 16th straight win and hasn’t lost since December 1, when it dropped its only game of the season to Wheaton College. Calvin advances to 19-1 overall and has never lost a game to St. Mary’s College, a rivalry which dates back to the 1990-1991 season.

In a game with Saint Mary’s early this season the Knights let a half time lead slip away and escaped with a one point victory; this time on their home court, the Knights controlled the game from the start as Calvin never trailed.

Calvin pulled out to an early first half lead behind solid defense and Marcia Harris’s (Grand Rapids Christian) 11 points. The Knights held the Belles to 21 first half points and 29.2% from the field. The Knights also held MIAA scoring leader Alison Kessler to 7 first half points as they took a 34-21 lead into the locker room.

The Knights didn’t let down at all in the second half. A lay up by Sarah Partridge (East Lansing) put Calvin up by its largest margin, 30 points, of the game at the 11 minute mark. 3 minutes later, a three pointer by Marissa Walker (Cedar Springs) again matched that margin 58-28.

Harris led the Knights with 17 points, while Nikki Zimmerman who was 3 of 5 from behind the arc, totaled 11 points. Lisa Winkle finished two points shy of her 41st double- double finishing with 8 points, but led the team with 13 rebounds. In all 11 players scored for the Knights, who shot 42.9% from the field, below their 47.5% season average, which is second in the nation.

Calvin was 7 of 21 from behind the arc led by Zimmerman and Walker, who was 2 of 3. Coming off their season low of 9 turnovers, the Knights totaled only 12 turnovers on the game despite 7 in the first half.

Calvin will continue its busy week of three MIAA conference games in six days, when it travels to Angola, IN to take on Tri-State. The game is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Calvin will then face Hope College on Saturday with tip-off slated for 12:45 p.m. as part of Calvin’s Homecoming weekend.

MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-5-07 GAMES

Calvin 12-0
Hope 10-2
Saint Mary’s 8-5
Olivet 7-5
Albion 7-6
Alma 5-7
Adrian 3-10
Kalamazoo 2-10
Tri-State 2-11
 
 
 

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Mon Feb 5 23:14:18 2007