CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 30, 2008
Men's Basketball Holds Off Olivet at Fieldhouse;
Women's Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker at Albion
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 80, Olivet 70
(written by Drew DeVries ’08)
GRAND RAPIDS - Coming off a disappointing and heart breaking loss to Hope last
Saturday, Calvin escaped Olivet's bid for an upset at the Fieldhouse this
evening, winning by an 80-70 score.
"We certainly didn't want to look back to our last game," said Calvin head
basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. "You run the risk of after an adrenaline
rush like the Calvin-Hope game of getting into a lull. But I thought our guys
did a nice job starting and staying consistent throughout the game. It wasn't
perfect but we had some big plays down the stretch and got the win."
Calvin was able to get off to a good start getting good looks and knocking
down shots. The Knights led 10-4 after an 8-2 run three-and-a-half minutes into
the game. Calvin led the Comets by twelve at one point but Olivet was able to
stay in the game with six first half three pointers including four by Brandon
Way. At halftime, Calvin led 37-31.
Olivet came out in the second half firing as it scored four quick points to
pull within two. The Knights were unable to ever pull away as Way continued to
connect. Way finished the game with seven triples helping him to 23 points. The
Comets had twelve three pointers in the game.
"A big key for Olivet tonight was Way," said Vande Streek. "He hit a lot of
threes and when he makes them, it's tough. He's so quick and you really can't
give him any space. He was able to knock a lot of them down."
Olivet kept hanging around and took its first lead of the game since the first
minute of play when it led 52-51 with twelve minutes left. But out of a Calvin
timeout, John Mantel (Chelsea/Chelsea) fueled a 10-2 with a slam dunk and four
minutes later, the Knights led 60-53. But still, Olivet stayed right with
Calvin and was within five points with two minutes left. That's when Calvin's
defense kicked in as it held the Comets to three straight defensive stops over
the final two minutes.
"I was really proud of our team at the end," said Vande Streek. "We played
pretty well consistently and were able to get those three stops in the end. I
was very pleased with that."
Vande Streek was also pleased with the play of Josh Engelsma
(Walker/Christian) who finished the game with 11 points scoring 9 in the first
half. Derek Griffin (Whitehall/Whitehall) also had a nice game playing against
his former coach, Gene Gifford, who had coached him at Muskegon Community
College.
"Derek really wanted to do well tonight," said Vande Streek. "He was taking
good shots and making plays for the other guys." Griffin had 17 points to go
along with six assists. Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian)
led the Knigths with 21.
Calvin (10-7 overall, 5-2 MIAA) will start the second round of conference play
when it travels to Tri-State next Saturday for a 3:00 contest.
OTHER MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Albion 75, Alma 73 (OT)
Adrian 66, Kalamazoo 62
Hope 93, Tri-State 60
MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-30-08 GAMES
Hope 7-0
Calvin 5-2
Albion 5-2
Tri-State 4-3
Adrian 3-4
Kalamazoo 2-5
Alma 1-6
Olivet 1-6
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Albion 52, Calvin 49
ALBION – In a battle for second place in the MIAA standings, Calvin came up
just short as the Knights fell at Albion 52-49 Wednesday evening at the Kresge
Gymnasium. The loss was Calvin’s first at Kresge since 2003 and dropped the
Knights one game behind Albion in the MIAA standings as the Britons improved to
8-3 in the league while Calvin slipped to 7-4.
Calvin (11-7 overall) led for 38 of the 40 minutes played on Wednesday night
but Albion (15-4 overall) came up with a late run and some timely free throws
over the final six minutes of play to secure the win.
“I can’t fault the effort of my team at all, we just came up a little
short in the final minutes,” said Calvin women’s basketball coach John
Ross. “We played tonight’s game without two of our key post players off the
bench and yet we still gave a very good Albion team a run. I’m proud of my
team. They showed a great deal of heart with their performance.”
Wednesday’s game was in stark contrast to the first meeting of the year
between the two clubs which came back on December 19 at the Calvin Fieldhouse
with Albion winning 78-51.
“I thought our defensive effort tonight was great,” said Ross of his team
which leads the MIAA in defensive scoring average. “We gave ourselves a
chance to win with our defense. Our defense has been something we’ve been
trying to hang on our hat on all season long.”
Calvin jumped out to a 15-4 first half lead as the Knights connected on six of
their first nine field goal attempts with junior Sarah Partridge (East Lansing
HS), sophomore Amber Benthem (McBain Christian HS) and junior Kristi Brummel
(South Christian HS) all connecting on triples in the opening spurt. Albion
came back to close to within three at halftime as the Knights led 27-24 at the
break.
Calvin opened the second half with a 9-0 run to build a 36-24 lead in the
opening moments of the second half. Calvin maintained an eight-point lead at
44-36 with 6:23 remaining but then hit a dry spell as the host Britons rallied
with a 13-5 scoring run to tie the game at 49 with two minutes left. Albion
freshman Lindsey Davis capped off the run with a game-tying three-point shot.
With 1:15 remaining, Calvin had a chance to retake the lead but missed the
front end of a bonus opportunity at the free throw line. Albion grabbed the
rebound and with 35 seconds left, drew a foul. Davis then connected on a free
throw with 35 ticks left on the clock to put the Britons up 50-49. Calvin
turned the ball over moments later and was forced to foul Davis who proceeded
to nail both free throws to give Albion a three-point edge.
A game-tying three-point attempt by Brummel with three seconds remaining
rimmed in and out. Albion grabbed the rebound to run out the clock and claim
victory.
Calvin was led in defeat by Partridge who scored 12 points while Harris had
11. Sophomore Brook VanEck (Lowell HS) also had a big game with seven points,
eight rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot.
Albion was paced by Kati Till with 13 points and seven rebounds while Davis
had 14. Albion held a 38-31 rebounding advantage including a 19-14 advantage in
the second half.
Calvin was 5-of-7 from three-point range in the first half but just 1-of-9 in
the second half to finish with an overall three-point clip of 37.5 percent
(6-of-16). Calvin shot 40.0 percent overall while Albion shot just 33.3
percent.
Free throw shooting also proved to be a difference as Calvin was 7-of-14 at
the line while Albion was 11-of-14 at the charity stripe.
Calvin returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Tri-State University at
3:00 p.m.
OTHER MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Adrian 79, Tri-State 73
Alma 66, Kalamazoo 50
Olivet 80, Saint Mary's 70
MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-30-08 GAMES
Hope 9-0
Albion 8-3
Olivet 6-3
Saint Mary’s 4-6
Adrian 4-5
Alma 3-6
Tri-State 2-8
Kalamazoo 1-9
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Jan 30 22:31:06 2008
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