CKSR (Men's Basketball Retains Share of MIAA Lead With Win Over Trine/Women's Basketball Roars to Road Win at Adrian)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 22, 2014

Men's Basketball Retains Share of MIAA Lead With Win Over Trine;
Women's Basketball Roars to Road Win at Adrian

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 71, Trine 49
By Mark DeHaan

The Knights men's basketball team hosted the Thunder of Trine University on Wednesday evening, looking to stay in a tie for first place in the MIAA with a win. In the end, Calvin ran away with the win in the second half, defeating Trine 71-49 as the Knights held pace atop the MIAA, moving to 4-1 in conference play.

Calvin took an early 9-2 lead, holding the Thunder to a single field goal through the first four minutes of the contest. But, Trine responded, and with 13:02 remaining in the first half, took a 13-12 lead on a four-point-play from Will Dixon.

Calvin retook the lead at 21-20 on a three by sophomore Austin Parks (Niles/Niles HS), but the Thunder returned the favor with five straight points for a 25-21 advantage.

Another triple from Parks and a transition three from junior Jordan Brink (Dyer, IN/Illiana Christian HS) then gave the Knights a 27-25 edge with 6:14 left in the opening period.

A 10-4 run for Calvin over the remaining time gave the Knights a 37-29 lead at halftime. Brink led the Knights with 10 points while Parks had nine, going 3-for-3 from three-point range. Tyler Good led the Thunder with 12 points. Calvin committed 12 turnovers in the first half compared to three for Trine.

Out of the break, the Knights again owned the opening four minutes of the period, starting the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 46-31 lead.

Calvin continued to command the second half, led by junior Tyler Dykstra (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and senior Tyler Kruis (Grand Rapids/Calvin Christian HS). The pair of Tylers scored the first 20 points of the second half for the Knights, giving them a 57-44 lead with 7:39 remaining.

Calvin's lead continued to expand, and when the clock hit all zeroes, the Knights had earned a 71-49 victory.

Calvin dominated on the boards and on the defensive end. The Knights outrebounded Trine 43-19 while also holding the Thunder to 29.8% shooting. Calvin shot 55.3% from the field.

Kruis led the Knights with 17 points, shooting 7-of-8 from the field, while adding six rebounds. Dykstra tallied his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, also adding six blocks.

Dykstra's points and rebounds set new career highs while his block total tied a career best.

Tyler Good led all scorers with 21 for Trine. Jared Holmquist added nine for the Thunder.

"All these games, with so many teams tied, every game is a first place game," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "The way Trine plays, they force you into a lot of turnovers and I was worried about that. We weren't perfect, but I thought we played really hard, and defensively, we played really well.

With the win, Calvin improves to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in the league, now tied atop the standings with Albion and Hope. Trine drops to 10-6 and 3-2 in conference.

The Knights now look forward to Saturday when they travel to Olivet for an afternoon contest, scheduled to tip-off at 3 p.m.

MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-22-14

Albion 4-1
Calvin 4-1
Hope 4-1
Trine 3-2
Kalamazoo 2-3
Alma 1-3
Olivet 1-3
Adrian 0-5

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 83, Adrian 64

ADRIAN - Calvin stretched its win streak to four games with an 83-64 win at Adrian Wednesday night. The victory keeps the Knights on the heels of second place Olivet as Calvin is 6-2 at the midpoint of the league schedule, one game behind the 7-1 Comets.

Calvin used a 20-4 run over the final seven minutes of the first half to take control. Prior to the run, Calvin led 24-22. The offensive explosion allowed the Knights to build a 44-26 halftime lead.

From that point, Calvin held control, building its lead to 35 points at 71-36 and then coasted the rest of the way.

"Adrian is another difficult place to play on the road and I'm happy with the win," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross after the game. "We had great energy during the final 10 minutes of the first half and that really got us over the hump. We still have a long way to go as a team but we are making good improvement and receiving contributions from several different players. Our goal is to keep the momentum going in a positive direction during the second half of the league schedule."

Calvin placed four players in double-figures in scoring led by junior Kayla Engelhard (Unionville/Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) with 17 points while junior Breanna Verkaik (Holland/Holland Christian HS) had 16 points. Junior Hannah Acre (DeWitt/DeWitt HS) had 12 points off the bench while senior Kirstin Tripp (Brighton/Brighton HS) had 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting while collecting five assists without a turnover to go with two steals. Sophomore Abby Springer (Vernon Hills, IL/Vernon Hills HS) also had five assists against just one turnover.

As a team, Calvin posted 18 assists against just 13 turnovers.

Calvin shot 47.2 percent from the floor and forced Adrian (8-8 overall, 4-4 MIAA) into 21 turnovers.

Adrian received 18 points and 10 rebounds from LaQuana Dockery while Lauren Rhoads had 17 points.

Calvin opens the second half of its MIAA campaign on Saturday, hosting Trine at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-22-14 GAMES

Hope 8-0
Olivet 7-1
Calvin 6-2
Kalamazoo 5-3
Adrian 4-4
Saint Mary's 3-5
Albion 2-6
Trine 1-7
Alma 0-8
Received on Thu, 23 Jan 2014 03:54:49 +0000