CSR (Calvin Basketball Teams Open Seasons With Victories)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 16, 2007

Basketball Teams Open Seasons With Victories

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 92, Grace Bible 65
(written by Bruce VanBaren '09)

A year ago Calvin opened its season with 98 points and a win. In tonight’s
season opener, Calvin’s offense again was in high gear, this time for 92
points, as 17th ranked Calvin beat Grace Bible College 92-65 in the first round
of the Calvin Tip-off Tournament. The win was Calvin’s tenth straight
season-opening victory and the Knights will face the number one team in the
nation—Washington University (MO) —in Saturday’s championship game at 3 p.m. in
the Fieldhouse.

Tonight, Calvin led by as many as 32 points and controlled the game from the
tip-off, never trailing. Five players had double digit points as every player
saw the floor. Derek Griffin (Whitehall/ Muskegon CC) led Calvin with 20 points
and both Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/ Sioux Falls Christian) and John
Mantel (Chelsea/ Chelsea) each added 17. Josh Engelsma (Walker/ Covenant
Christian) scored 13 in his first varsity game and Matt Veltema (Grandville/
Calvin Christian) added 11 points.

Mantel opened up the game with a dominating performance, scoring 15 of his 17
points in the first ten minutes of play. Mantel was extremely versatile,
driving through the lane, drawing and hitting foul shots, posting up and
controlling the paint and even hit a three pointer to put Calvin up 27-20 with
9:53 remaining in the first half. With his 17 points, Mantel matched his career
high.

“He’s going to see different adjustments from different teams [as the season
continues],” said Coach Kevin Vande Streek. “[Grace Bible] played him straight
up and he played well, doing a variety of things. And he’s only going to get
better.”

When Mantel cooled off, Calvin spread the floor with guards Veldhouse and
Griffin stepping up. Veldhouse hit three three-pointers and had a three point
play for 12 points in a span of two and a half minutes in the first half,
putting the Knights up 44-30.

“The first option is to go inside, particularly to Mantel, but we also want to
run the floor,” said Vande Streek. “We don’t want to take away shots from
[Griffin and Veldhouse].”

Griffin also knocked down several big shots as both he and Veldhouse went four
for six from three point range in the first half. Both finished the game four
of seven from behind the arc.

“[Mantel and our guards] complement each other,” said Vande Streek. “When John
makes it, they’ll be open and when they make good, John will be open.”

That was certainly the case tonight as Calvin shot 50% both from the field and
from behind the arc in the first half, taking a 57-43 into halftime. But
despite its offensive dominance, the Knights allowed Grace Bible to shoot 53.1%
and connect on seven of 13 three pointers in the first half.

“Defensively the first half was a disappointment,” said Vande Streek. “We
weren’t smart. [Grace Bible] was at the rim and in the lane. In the second
half we tightened that up.” Calvin held Grace Bible to 32.3% from the field and
7.7% from three point range in the second half.

The Knights led by as many as 32 in the second half and Engelsma led Calvin
with 11 second half points, including seven straight late in the half. Calvin
shot 45.6% from the field on the night and shot 21 free throws for ten points.
The Knights also controlled the boards, outrebounding Grace Bible 51-33.

“We talk a lot about that,” said Vande Streek. “That’s the most important stat
in basketball. And we also have guys who can get offensive boards.” 23 of
Calvin’s 51 rebounds were offensive. Tim Katt, who got the first start of his
career tonight, led
Calvin with five offensive rebounds and in total had a career high ten
rebounds.
Matt Jamieson led Grace Bible with 26 points and was three of seven from behind
the arc. Mike Boone and Dan Hosteter were the other two players in double
figures with 13 and ten points respectively.

Calvin is now 60-28 all-time in season openers and 10-2 under Vande Streek.
Calvin is now 12-1 all-time in Tip-Off Tournament games, including 7-0 in first
round games. The Knights have won five of a possible six Tip-off Tournament
Championships and will face top-ranked Washington University who defeated Ohio
Northern 74-58 in the earlier game tonight.

“We’ve had this date circled on the schedule,” said Vande Streek in his
post-game interview on WFUR. “This is what we prepare for all off-season and
we’ll learn a lot about our team tomorrow afternoon.”

In the early game, Ohio Northern played right with number one Washington
University as nine of ten Polar Bears who saw the floor scored in the first
half. Still, Ohio Northern trailed by five at the half. In the second half,
Troy Ruths, who had nine points in the first half, exploded, scoring 17 points
for a team high 26 points for Washington University. Ohio Northern actually out
rebounded Washington 37-30, but the Bears shot 52.8% from the floor to
compensate for it in the second half and won handily 74-58. Sean Wallis and
Tyler Nading added to Ruths’ big night, each putting up 17 points as three
Bears finished in double figures. Kurtis Brown led the Polar Bears with ten
points.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 79, Mount St. Joseph 41

CINCINNATI, OH – Calvin opened its 2007-08 campaign with a 79-41 victory over
the College of Mount St. Joseph Friday evening. The Knights were led by the
inside tandem of sophomore Brook VanEck (Lowell HS) and junior Marcia Harris
(Grand Rapids Christian HS) with VanEck scoring a game-high 16 points on
six-of-nine shooting while Harris had 15 points in her return to the floor
after suffering a season-ending injury in the 2007 MIAA Tournament Championship
game last February.
Calvin shot 47.3 percent from the floor with 13 of its dressed players entering
the scorebook.

Calvin held Mount St. Joseph to 32.3 percent field goal shooting and forced the
host Lions (0-2) into 27 turnovers.
Calvin will face Illinois College on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in a game scheduled
to be played at Mount St. Joseph.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Nov 16 23:39:30 2007