CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 8, 2014
Men's Basketball Defeats Wittenberg 66-51 in NCAA III Tournament First Round Game - To Face Washington University Saturday at 8 pm (EST);
Women's Lacrosse Sets Records in Win at Defiance
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 66, Wittenberg 51
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin men's basketball team traveled to St. Louis, Missouri and the campus of Washington University for its first round matchup of the NCAA Tournament against #23 Wittenberg University and came away with an impressive 66-51 victory.
Calvin will face second-ranked Washington University Saturday night at 8 p.m. (EST) in regional final contest. Wash. U. defeated Wilmington 100-69 in Friday's other first round game. Calvin's victory marked its first win over Wittenberg since 1990. Friday's matchup also marked Calvin's first meeting against Wittenberg since 1995.
The Knights entered the matchup having gone 1-6 all-time against the Tigers while Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek was 6-1 in first round NCAA Tournament contests.
Wittenberg earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, finishing second in the North Coast Athletic Conference at a 21-7 record and the #24 national ranking.
The Knights, meanwhile, where coming off a 78-53 win over rival Hope in the MIAA Tournament Championship. Calvin earned the #23 national ranking in the final regular season poll of the year at a record of 22-5.
Despite the near-equal rankings, it was Calvin that took a first half lead and held it throughout the remainder of the game, building its lead to as much as 21 before settling at a final score of 66-51, moving on to the second round with the victory.
The Tigers scored the first two baskets of the game to take a 5-0 lead. After a jumper by senior Tyler Kruis, a steal by sophomore Jordan Daley and an ensuing breakaway dunk energized the Knights.
Calvin could not pull away in the opening 13 minutes, however, and with 7:02 remaining, the game was deadlocked at 20-20.
The Knights then dominated for the remainder of the first half, outscoring the Tigers 17-5 to take a 37-25 lead by halftime.
Senior Tyler Kruis had 13 points at halftime while Daley scored six and added four steals in the opening half.
Out of the break, Wittenberg cut Calvin's advantage down to single digits at 39-30 with 17:38 to go.
Eight straight points by the Knights then put them firmly on top, and Calvin's lead grew to as much as 21 at 55-34 with 7:30 remaining in the game.
The Tigers got no closer than 13 the rest of way, and Calvin claimed a 66-51 victory.
The Knights played strong defense all night long, forcing Wittenberg into 18 turnovers while only allowing the Tigers to shoot 35.2% from the field.
Kruis had 19 points and seven rebounds to lead the Knights offensively, while junior Jordan Brink added 10. Senior Mickey DeVries chipped in nine points and had three key blocks while Daley stuffed the stat-sheet with six points, six steals, five rebounds, five assists, and no turnovers.
For Wittenberg, Zack Leahy scored 15 to pace the Tigers while Steven Newell scored nine.
"The last few games I think we've played as well defensively as maybe any team I've ever had," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We've seen it where we've had a hard time getting the ball deep into our half-court offense and how disruptive that can be, so we've worked hard and gotten better at turning the tables and being disruptive defensively ourselves."
With the win, the Knights advance to the second round which will be played on Saturday night at 8 p.m. against either host Washington University or Wilmington University. The game and victory marked Vande Streek's 500th at Calvin, improving his record to 358-142 in his 18 years as head coach.
SATURDAY CALVIN/WASH. U. BROADCAST LINKS
Live Video: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal
Live Stats: http://bearsports-livestats.wustl.edu/Basketball/xlive.htm
Live Audio: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/calvin.portal
Live Press Conference: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wustl.portal
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Calvin 15, Defiance 1
DEFIANCE, OH - Calvin evened its season record at 1-1 with a 15-1 victory over the host Yellow Jackets of Defiance College Friday afternoon.
Calvin used cohesive play and strong ball control to gain the win.
Calvin recorded 12 assists on the afternoon and was 8-of-9 on clearing attempts, allowing the Knights to control the run of play.
Calvin led 10-1 at halftime and then scored five unanswered goals in the second half.
The Knights were paced by a pair of freshmen in Emily Cefaratti (Hinsdale, IL/Hinsdale Central HS) and Audrey Grabowski (East Grand Rapids/East Grand Rapids HS).
Cefaratti tallied four goals and two assists for a total of six points, establishing a new Calvin single-game record for points in a game. Grabowski was close behind with three goals, two assists and five points.
Sophomore Carolyn Forbes (Farmington Hills/Marian HS) had two goals and two assists while junior Lissa Busscher (Holland/Holland Christian HS) also had a pair of goals.
Junior Karissa Reed (Greenville/Greenville HS) had one goal and two assists while senior Mary Hoogstra (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), junior Paige Noordyke (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) senior Christina Howell (Dexter/Washtenaw Christian Academy) all had single goals.
Senior Michelle Holwerda (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) was the top table-setter for the Knights, collecting four assists in the match. Her assist total is also a Calvin single-game record.
Cefaratti also had seven ground balls while Busscher had six. As a team. Calvin had 41 ground balls to the 15 collected by Defiance.
Senior goalie Lauren Spoelstra (Oakland, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) had two saves in nets for the Knights.
"After last weekend we wanted to make an effort to improve our draw control, ground ball and shooting percentages," said Calvin head coach Blake Boehm. "We were able to do that today and we're very happy with the results. The fact that we had 12 assists today also tells me that we are starting to find each other on the field and communicate well. That's a very positive sign."
Calvin returns to action on Saturday when it takes on 1-0 Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. The game will begin at 1 p.m.
Received on Sat Mar 8 00:17:28 2014
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