CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2015 (Part Two)
EDITOR'S NOTE: A host of Calvin sports events took place on Saturday. The Calvin women's lacrosse team opened its season with a 14-12 win at Aurora. The women's tennis team defeated Principia 7-2 and five Calvin divers competed at the NCAA III Diving Regional. In addition, Calvin's indoor track and field team competed at the Trine Invitational with the women's team finishing first and the men's team taking second. A full recap of those events will be sent out later this weekend.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 70, Hope 69
By Mark DeHaan
It was a winner-take-all match-up of The Rivalry on Saturday evening, with Calvin and Hope meeting at Van Noord Arena to fight for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Knights were victorious in both regular season meetings: 88-64 at Hope on January 10 and 83-77 at Calvin on February 4. However, a third win was necessary to ensure the continuation of the Knights season.
Calvin started the game off slow, and for much of the contest, was down by double-digits. But, a late run the Knights, capped by a Jordan Brink jumper with five seconds to go in the game, saw Calvin take its only lead of the game.
The Knights, forcing a turnover on the last play, held on to the lone lead to claim an incredible 70-69 come-from-behind victory. It was a instant-classic which saw Calvin claim its third win of the season over its rivals, the league tournament crown, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Calvin put itself in an uphill battle right from the tip. The Knights fell into an early double-digit hole, not scoring until senior Jordan Brink hit a pair of free throws with 15:23 remaining in the first.
By that point, Hope was ahead 13-2.
Calvin cut the deficit to 22-18 on a jumper by Brink with 8:41 to go, but the Flying Dutchmen worked their advantage back to double-digits minutes later on a triple by guard Sam Otto.
Hope then built its lead up to 39-24, where the score settled at halftime.
Calvin shot just 29.2% in the first half, while the Flying Dutchmen shot 57.1%. Brink had 11 points at the half, but was overshadowed by a 17-point half by Hope's Otto. Brock Benson contributed 10 for Hope at half.
Out of the break, the Flying Dutchmen matched their largest lead of the game at 47-32 with with 17:14 to go in regulation.
While Calvin was able to get within ten on three occasions, Hope's lead was still double-digits with 5:11 remaining at 67-56.
A 9-0 run by the Knights, including back-to-back threes from senior Jordan Brink, brought the game within two at 67-65.
After a layup by Hope's Brock Benson put Hope up four with 1:51 to go, an offensive rebound from senior TJ Huizenga and putback, while drawing a foul, brought new life to the Knights. After sinking the free-throw, Calvin found itself down a single point.
Hope missed a three with 0:19 remaining, but grabbed the offensive board and was then fouled to send the Flying Dutchmen to the line for the one-and-one.
For the game, Hope was 20-of-21 at the free-throw line up to that point. But, with the pressure on, Hope missed the free throw to put the ball into Calvin's hands with 0:18 to go.
With time winding down, the ball was given to Jordan Brink. Gaining a half-step on his defender, Brink put up a shot from the right elbow that found the bottom of the net with five seconds remaining, giving the Knights their first lead of the game at 70-69.
The five-second lead is all Calvin would need, and, forcing a turnover on Hope's last possession, the Knights overcame a double-digit deficit to claim the one-point victory, the MIAA Tournament title, and the conference's automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA Tournament.
Calvin shot 48.0% for the game, stepping up in the second half to shoot 65.4%. Hope shot 50%, also hitting 20-of-22 free throws for 90.9%. The Knights out-rebounded the Flying Dutchmen 31-22, grabbing 13 offensive boards. Calvin played strong on the defensive end as well, tallying five blocks and four steals.
Individually, it was Brink scoring 25 points to lead all scorers. Senior Daniel Stout added 11 while senior Tyler Dykstra contributed nine.
For Hope, Otto finished with 24, guard Ben Gardner scored 16, and Benson added 14.
"Credit to Calvin, they made big shots," said Hope head coach Greg Mitchell. "I thought we played with great toughness, with great passion, and we played the right way. I felt like we deserved a better fate."
"I thought they did the dictating (in the first half). But, I give our guys credit, because in the second half I felt like we did that," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "One of the things I've said about this team is we have a lot of pieces, and we figure out what pieces work best in a given game. When you get into a close game down the end, it is incredibly beneficial to have the best player, and we have. And he delivered again today."
"I think our energy level went way up (in the second half), as well as our composure," said Tyler Dykstra about Calvin's second half surge. "We knew we could get there, we just had to keep ourselves together and play our game."
"There were a few times down the stretch of the game where I looked around coming out of the timeout and it was all four seniors (on the floor)," said Brink. "Dan Stout played a heck of a game today, and TJ Huizenga has stepped up tremendously down the stretch of the season - it's been special."
The Knights improve to 21-6 with the win, while Hope moves to 18-9.
Calvin now awaits the NCAA Division III tournament selection show on Monday to see where the team will be traveling for the tournament. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. on NCAA.com
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 77, Hope 73
by Gina de Haan
The Knights finished the regular season undefeated (27-0 overall, 16-0 MIAA), taking down the Flying Dutch by a score of 77-73 in a thrilling rivalry battle. With this victory, Calvin completes a 3-0 sweep over Hope, and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
The title game was fast-paced from the tip-off, with both teams scoring on their first possession of the game. First to score was senior center Rebekah Llorens of the Flying Dutch, who had averaged 19.7 points in Hope's three previous games. Calvin senior Hannah Acre answered Llorens, putting the Knights on the scoreboard with a made fast break layup.
Acre's bucket kicked off an early 8-0 Calvin run, in which senior Breanna Verkaik began to heat up, contributing five points towards the effort. The Knights now possessed an 8-2 lead over the Flying Dutch just minutes into the game.
After back-to-back buckets from Breanna Verkaik and a jumper by senior guard Kayla Engelhard, Calvin went ahead by a margin of nine points. These four points boosted Breanna Verkaik above the 1,000 point plateau, making her the fifteenth player in Calvin women's basketball history to accomplish this feat.
The Knights built their lead to seventeen points, but were outscored 11-3 by their visitors in the final 3:21 of the half.
Hope took advantage of Calvin's offensive lapse, bringing the point difference to single-digits by the time they entered the locker room at halftime, the score now 46-37.
At the break, Breanna Verkaik led all scorers with seventeen points (7-9 FG, 3-4 3-pointers). Sophomore guard Paris Madison led the Dutch with a career-high seven points off the bench.
Despite a sizeable Calvin lead at halftime, the Flying Dutch showed resilience and battled back, scoring the first seven points of the second half. The visitors cut Calvin's lead to two points just a minute-and-a-half into the latter part of the competition.
Rebekah Llorens went 1-2 from the line, and less than a minute later, Paris Madison earned a steal and capitalized on the following fast break. Junior forward Maura McAfee completed the run, adding a layup and two made free throws, the scoreboard now reading 46-44.
The two teams went back-and-forth in scoring while Hope slowly chipped away at Calvin's lead. With 10:48 left to play, senior guard Brittany Berry drained a three, a record 219th of her career, cutting Hope's deficit to 62-54 and bringing Calvin's lead back to single digits. The Flying Dutch held the Knights scoreless for nearly six minutes during middle portion of the second half.
Sophomore guard Anna Timmer ended Calvin's scoring drought with a three-pointer, but was soon answered by Tyra Smith who sunk a triple for the Dutch. Calvin now held a 65-59 advantage over Hope.
With 2:30 left on the clock, Maura McAfee scored in the paint, cutting Calvin's lead to three points (70-67) and causing Calvin head coach John Ross to call timeout.
Following the break, Kally Verkaik found Breanna Verkaik with a back-door pass that led to two points for the Knights. Seconds later, Hope's Tyra Smith was fouled and knocked down both her free throws to bring the difference back to three with a minute-and-a-half remaining, Calvin ahead 72-69.
In the final minute of the game, both teams were scrambling, but neither could get a shot to fall. With twenty seconds left to play, Autumn Anderson was fouled and went on to make both free throws, cutting Calvin's lead to one.
But the Knights also proved to be clutch from the line, making 5-6 of their free throws in the final sixteen seconds of the game.
Perhaps the play of the game came with thirteen seconds left, the score 73-71. Kayla Engelhard missed the second of free throws and Maura McAfee came down with the rebound, the Dutch now looking to tie the score on the final possession of the game. But Abby Springer came up with a crucial steal for her team, passing the ball off to Hannah Acre who was quickly fouled. Acre proceeded to sink both free throws to put the Knights up by four. With eleven seconds left, the game was over.
"It just all came down to focus in the end," said Acre when asked about her high-pressure free throw situation. "I knew this was my moment to help the team out and I just wanted to do that for them."
The MIAA Tournament title is Calvin's seventh overall and its first since 2012. The win was also Calvin's third victory of the year over Hope, marking the first time since the 1998-99 season that Calvin has defeated Hope three times in a season.
The newest 1,000-point club member, Breanna Verkaik led all scorers with twenty-one points. Hannah Acre scored thirteen points while Anna Timmer had eleven.
Kally Verkaik had a solid all-around game, finishing with ten points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals, and three blocks.
Kally ultimately credits her personal success to her team; "I just played the hardest I could for my teammates, and we all worked really well together."
Along with her key steal late in the game, Abby Springer contributed nine points and four assists.
Three Hope players had career highs in scoring Saturday afternoon; all three players came off the bench. Tyra Smith led the Flying Dutch with sixteen points, Kamara Sudberry finished with ten, and Paris Madison had nine. Maura McAfee contributed fourteen points and grabbed thirteen rebounds.
"I think the game lived up to its billing," Hope head coach Brian Morehouse said. "I think they particularly shot the ball well from three the first half, that was a huge key to the game. In the second half, quite honestly, you can't defend free throws and they shot twenty-one free throws. It's really hard to guard them when they're standing alone at the free throw line."
The Knights shot 53.8% (7-13) from three-point range in the first half and 76.2% from the free throw line (76.2%) in the second.
"Hope made some significant changes with some different personnel, and it was really effective for them," Coach John Ross, "We just found a way to stay alive and we're just excited that we won and to be playing next week."
Breanna Verkaik described Saturday as a "big day" as her team became MIAA champions, along with the scoring of her 1,000th career point. "I am just so excited to see what this team can do. We have been playing with so much heart; it's been so much fun, and I don't want it to end. So we're just going to keep trekking and I'm looking forward to a long tournament run."
With the win, sixth-ranked Calvin (27-0) gains the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament next week. Calvin will find out its first round opponent on March 2 when the selection show takes place at 12:30 p.m.
Received on Sat Feb 28 23:33:10 2015
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