CSR (Men's Basketball Moves Into Sole Possession of Second Place With Homecoming Win)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR February 10, 2007 (PART TWO)

Men's Basketball Moves Into Sole Possession of Second Place in MIAA Standings With Homecoming Win Over Olivet

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 90, Olivet 43
(written by Bruce VanBaren '09)

The Knights defeated Olivet College 90-47 in front of a homecoming crowd this afternoon. Calvin strings it’s longest winning streak of the season, four games, as four players scored double digits.

More importantly, Calvin moves into sole possession of second place in the MIAA standings as Tri-State fell at Alma Saturday afternoon. Calvin (14-8 overall, 9-3 MIAA) is now one game ahead of 8-4 Adrian and Tri-State. At 11-1 in league play, Hope remains two games in front of Calvin for first place.

Calvin is also now 37-5 in homecoming games at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

Calvin has defeated its last four opponents by margins of 7 (Hope College), 19, 56, and 47 points.

“We had a lot of excuses not to play well,” Vande Streek said as his team completed its third conference game in six days. “But we were focused mentally and played disciplined. I’m very proud of [my team].”

Calvin was ignited to victory with 9 three point field goals and by a rebounding margin of 37- 18. Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls Christian) was 5 of 7 from the arc and Derek Griffin (Muskegon CC) and Dustin Smith (Hamilton HS) each hit two three point shots.

“It’s been a tough go at times for Veldhouse,” Vande Streek said. “Teams double him up and are very physical with him, but he’s having a good year despite that. Tonight he had open looks early, got confidence and really took off.”

Calvin finished the game with 31 points off of 19 Olivet turnovers.

“I thought we were really good defensively,” Vande Streek said. “We talked defensively and took them out of a lot of the sets they wanted to run.”

In the first half, Calvin opened up to a 7-2 lead behind Veldhouse’s five quick points. Bryan Dutton and Blake Brannick answered Veldhouse and the Knights with two three point field goals nearly evening the score at 16-15.

Smith kept the Knights on top, starting a 14-3 Knights run with a three point field goal. The run was capped by Josh Meckes’s (Saginaw Valley Lutheran) reverse lay up as Calvin led 30-18.

Derek Griffin gave the Knight’s their largest lead of the afternoon after he drove the length of the court. Calvin took that 38-22 lead into the locker room.

Calvin shot 60% from the field and 40% from behind the arc thanks to Veldhouse who hit 3 of 4 from downtown. He led the Knights with 11 first half points. Smith was second among all scorers with 7 points; Brandon Way led the Comets with 5 points. Calvin scored 18 points off of 10 Olivet turnovers in the first half.

The offense continued to flow in the second half. Veldhouse grabbed an offensive rebound and drained a turnaround three minutes into the first half to keep the Knights rolling 44-27. Veldhouse would finish the game leading all scorers with 17 points.

Kyle Snoeyink (Calvin Christian) also got involved to put the game away early in the second half. Snoeyink himself outscored the Comets 6-2 for a stretch of two minutes.

“It’s good to see Kyle playing this way,” Vande Streek said. “He was dealing with a foot injury and the last three weeks he’s gotten a lot better and that’s big for us.”

John Mantel (Chelsea HS) followed Snoeyink’s effort with an authoritative dunk to elevate the Knights’ lead to 21 points.

Veldhouse and Griffin continued to rain threes to seal the win. Griffin hit back to back threes as Calvin led 61-31 with 12 minutes left in the second half and Calvin expanded its lead to as many as 49 points.

The homecoming game marked the last home game for three Calvin seniors: Meckes, Snoeyink and Eric DeVries (Unity Christian). In his final home game, Meckes led the Knights with 7 rebounds and added 8 points.

Four players finished in double digits: Veldhouse with 17, Smith with 12 and Griffin and Snoeyink with 10 each. Calvin shot 61.8% from the field and 45% from behind the arc. They turned the ball over only 9 times and committed only 11 fouls.

Calvin will travel to Albion Wednesday night and travel to Kalamazoo next Saturday afternoon.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Feb 10 17:51:11 2007