CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT PART TWO FOR FEB. 16, 2013
Basketball Teams Gain Top Seeds for MIAA Tournament;
Men's Lacrosse Falls 10-7 at Baldwin Wallace
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 86, Olivet 60
By Mark DeHaan
With the outright MIAA regular season championship on the line, the Calvin
men's basketball team faced the fourth-place Comets of Olivet. The Knights
entered the contest 12-1 in conference play while the Comets came in at 6-7.
Saturday also marked senior day for Calvin. In a well-rounded showing by the
team, the Knights not only claimed the outright MIAA regular season title but
also saluted their seniors with a win, earning an 86-60 victory.
Calvin jumped out to a 9-3 lead just over four minutes in. Olivet responded
with a 7-2 run to cut the Knights advantage to 11-10.
With Calvin's offense looking a bit flat, a pair of dunks by sophomore Tyler
Dykstra put some life into the Knights. But, the Comets would not back down as
some sloppy offensive play by Calvin allowed Olivet to tie the game at 17-17
with 9:24 remaining in the half.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Mitch Vallie then sparked a 15-2 Calvin run
which saw the Knights build a 32-19 lead.
Calvin held the double-digit lead through until the break with a 40-26
advantage heading into halftime.
Dykstra led Calvin with nine points at half, while sophomore Jordan Brink
added seven. Olivet was led by DaunTrell Hill who had seven at the break.
In the second half, Calvin began to pull away via strong offensive rebounding
and some put-back baskets. The Knights grabbed 15 offensive rebounds in the
second half and scored 22 second chance points off those rebounds. Calvin took
its largest lead of the game with 5:06 remaining in the contest on a tip-in by
junior Mickey DeVries that put their lead at 75-49.
With just over two minutes remaining, head coach Kevin Vande Streek subbed out
his four seniors to a standing ovation. The Knights then round out the 86-60
victory with a pair of free throws from freshman Jordan Daley and a
three-pointer by freshman Austin Parks.
Calvin grabbed 25 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Comets 58-27 during
the contest. Calvin scored 37 second chance points off those 25 offensive
boards.
Dykstra and junior Tyler Kruis led the Knights on offense with 14 points
apiece, while DeVries added 12 and nine rebounds. Seniors Bryan Powell and Matt
DeBoer chipped in nine points and eight points and eight rebounds,
respectively. Blake Krum scored 17 for Olivet while Jeff Cain added 14.
“Dykstra and DeVries have done a great job of accepting their role, not only
from a playing time standpoint but what it is the team needs from them. As you
can imagine, we've been out-rebounded in our last two games, so you can bet the
emphasis was on rebounding drills and toughness the last couple days,” said
Vande Streek. “I am really proud of this group. I'm not sure anyone would have
written down anything better than 22-3 during the regular season. I'm very
proud of the seniors for their leadership and their hard work. Off the floor,
for their example and their behavior and how caring they are for their
teammates. We'll be sad when they have to leave.”
Calvin finishes its regular season at 22-3 and 13-1 in the MIAA. Olivet drops
to 11-14 and 6-8.
As the first seed in the MIAA Tournament the men will host Adrian Thursday
night at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the semi-final game will play in the
Tournament final Saturday afternoon.
FINAL MIAA REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS FOR MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 13-1
Hope 12-2
Trine 7-7
Adrian 7-7
Olivet 6-8
Kalamazoo 5-9
Alma 4-10
Albion 2-12
Semifinals - Thursday, Feb. 21 - 7:30 p.m.
#4 Adrian (7-7, 18-7) at #1 Calvin (13-1, 22-3)
#3 Trine (7-7, 14-11) at #2 Hope (12-2, 17-8)
Championship - Saturday, Feb. 23 - 7:30 p.m.
Thursday winners at highest remaining seed
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Hope 65, Calvin 50
By Brett VenHuizen
HOLLAND - The second ranked Calvin women’s basketball team fell to Hope in
Holland on Saturday. Despite the 65-50 loss the Knights still secured a share
of the MIAA regular season championship. Even though the game was lost, the
Knights retained the number one seed and the privilege of hosting the MIAA
tournament as decided by a coin flip that followed the game.
The Knights fell behind quickly in the first half and could never quite make
up for it. At the break the score was 47-21. The Dutch shot an impressive 63%
in the first half, while the Knights shot only 31%. The 47 points marked the
highest total Calvin has given up in a half since allowing 48 points in the
first half of a loss to Wilmington of Ohio in November of 2001.
“All of our problems started on defense.” Said sophomore point guard Kayla
Engelhard. The Knights could not handle the offense of Hope in the first half
and also could not get their own offense going. The Dutch were out rebounding
the Knights by a margin of eleven.
The second half was better for the Knights but it was too little too late. The
Knights played immensely better on the defensive side of the ball in the second
half and held the Dutch to only four field goals and a shooting percentage of
16%.
After the game Coach John Ross said, “We stepped it up on defense in the
second half and got things going on offense as well, but when you play a
talented team like this they don’t make it easy to come back.” Senior Carissa
Verkaik also added, “We were seeing the ball a lot better in the second half
and were able to stop them from scoring like they did in the first.”
Carissa Verkaik lead all Calvin scorers with 19 points and 8 rebounds. The
senior is now tied with Calvin great, Lisa Winkle, as the all-time leading
rebounder in Calvin Women’s basketball. Both women are tied at 1,034 rebounds.
When asked about the record after the game Carissa said, ”It’s never been
about the records. This is a team game and I couldn’t have done any of this
without all of my teammates from my freshman year till now.” Not only does
Carissa now share this record but she is sole leader of the blocks and points
categories as well being the first Calvin player in Calvin history to reach the
2,000 point plateau. Other leaders for Calvin were Kayla Engelhard with 10
points and Kelsey Irwin with 6. Julia Hilbrands also contributed 4 points, 6
rebounds and 3 blocks in the loss.
Calvin will host a semifinal game next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against
fourth-seeded Trine.
FINAL MIAA REGULAR SEASON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
Calvin 15-1
Hope 15-1
Olivet 10-6
Trine 8-8
Adrian 7-9
Albion 7-9
Alma 6-10
Saint Mary’s 3-13
Kalamazoo 1-15
MIAA TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:
Semifinals, Wednesday Feb. 20 7:30 pm
#4 Trine (8-8, 14-11) at #1 Calvin (15-1, 22-2)
#3 Olivet (10-6, 15-10) at #2 Hope (15-1, 24-1)
Championship, Saturday, Feb. 23
At highest remaining seed, 3 pm
MEN’S LACROSSE
Baldwin Wallace 10, Calvin 7
BEREA, OH – Despite fielding a team of only 13 available players on Saturday,
Calvin competed gamely against host Baldwin Wallace University before falling
10-7.
The teams were tied 4-4 at halftime with the host Yellow Jackets taking an 8-7
lead into the final quarter of play. Baldwin Wallace then added two insurance
goals in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
Sophomore Tim Marco (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) led Calvin on the
attack with three goals and five ground balls while freshman D.J. VanderBaan
had two goals and two assists. Senior Greg Boer (Demotte, IN/Kankakee HS) had
two goals as well.
Junior Casey Harless (DeWitt/DeWitt HS) led Calvin in ground balls with 12.
Senior Drew Sroczynski (Dyer, IN/Illiana Christian HS) collected 10 saves.
“We took a big step forward from last week,” said Calvin head coach Joel
Kamstra. “We fought right until the end and I was proud of the way our guys
played despite being short-handed. We are making improvements every time we
practice or play which is exciting to see.”
Calvin is scheduled to return to action next Friday when it hosts
Concordia-Wisconsin at 4 p.m. at Grand Rapids Christian High School.
For a recent Mlive.com story on area lacrosse teams at the collegiate level
which includes both the Calvin men’s and women’s teams, visit the Mlive.com
website at:
http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2013/02/calvin_and_hope_colleges_crash.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Received on Sun Feb 17 00:19:57 2013
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