CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 20, 2016
Men's Basketball Downs Kalamazoo / Women's Basketball Falls at Hope
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 90, Kalamazoo 64
By Gina de Haan
Both the Knights and the Hornets came into Wednesday evening's contest at Van Noord Arena looking to bounce back from Saturday defeats. Calvin dropped an 86-64 defeat at home to a hot Alma team while Kalamazoo was handed its tenth straight loss by Olivet, 79-72.
Backed by what head coach Kevin Vande Streek calls an "aggressive and assertive" performance from senior Jordan Daley, it was Calvin who reversed its course, defeating their visitors decisively by a score of 90-64, improving their record to 8-7, with a 3-2 conference mark. This victory marked the Knights' tenth consecutive win against Kalamazoo.
Vande Streek said, "After Saturday, we were disappointed with our game, so I'm really proud of the guys for responding with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and coming out and playing well."
The Knights took an early lead, scoring the first two buckets of the game off of layups from Daley and senior Austin Parks, and wouldn't surrender the lead for the remainder of the conference contest. Just four minutes into the game, Calvin had built a 12-4 lead and a shortly after, a three-point basket by junior Mike Siegel gave the Knights a double-digit advantage, forcing a Kalamazoo timeout.
Calvin continued to control the first half, fueled by 18-points from Daley, who went 8-8 from the free throw line. With just over five minutes to play before halftime, Daley knocked down a jumper to make the score 35-24, earning his 900th career point.
With one minute to play in the half, junior Cam Denney scored the last points of the half, hitting a triple. As the Knights headed into the locker room, the scoreboard read 49-31.
Calvin maintained its momentum to start the second half, scoring the first six points off buckets by sophomore Tony Canonie and a pair by Parks, giving the Knights a comfortable 55-31.
With 12:08 left to play, Daley drove to the basket and scored his 20th point of the night and returned a 20-point lead to his team. After tonight's solid offensive performance, Daley has notched 20 points or more in seven of Calvin's 16 games this season.
Just after the midpoint of the second half, a dunk from Denney followed by a three-pointer from junior Nate Drews brought the score to 74-47 and Calvin's lead to 27, which would be its largest of the night.
The Knights shot 43.8% from the floor (32-73) while the Hornets made 29.7% of their attempted field goals (22-74).
Daley led all players in scoring with a total of 25 points. Parks and Canonie followed, with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Denney had a solid all-around game, contributing 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Calvin outrebounded its visitors 54-43.
Daley also led the way on the boards snagging eight rebounds, eclipsing the 400-rebound mark in tonight's game. Juniors Michael Wilks and Nick Kronemeyer also recorded seven rebounds apiece.
"He's having a great senior year," said coach Vande Streek about Daley. "He embodied our team mentality tonight and carried us in the first half."
"Jordan fills the stat sheet with assists and rebounds and he always guards one of the other team's best players. He's having a great season and we hope it continues another dozen games or so."
On Saturday, Calvin will play its first of three road games, taking on MIAA opponent Adrian College (8-7, 1-3 MIAA). Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-20-16
Alma 5-0
Hope 4-1
Albion 3-2
Calvin 3-2
Trine 2-3
Olivet 2-3
Adrian 1-4
Kalamazoo 0-5
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Hope 79, Calvin 47
HOLLAND, Mich. - The No. 4 Flying Dutch were too much for the No. 15 Knights on Wednesday evening. Hope won in front of a hostile home crowd, 79-47. Calvin moves to 12-4 on the year and 7-1 in the MIAA, Hope remains undefeated on the season at 16-0 and 8-0 in the MIAA. The loss snaps a three-game winning over Hope for the Knights.
"Give Hope a lot of credit," said head coach John Ross. "They played very well and forced us to do a lot of things we didn't want to do. We have to keep getting better and start preparing for a very good Kalamazoo team on Saturday. Hope is a very tough environment to win in and a tough place to shoot well. Hope brought their A-game today and they beat us."
The game started with the Flying Dutch taking an early 8-2 lead. The Knights would fight back and cut the lead to two. Hope would finish the quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 16-8 after the first ten minutes.
The Flying Dutch extended the lead in the second quarter. Hope pushed the lead to 27-12 before senior Kally Verkaik (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) drained the first three-point basket of the night for Calvin with 3:13 remaining in the quarter. Hope would go into halftime leading, 36-15.
"Today is a good learning experience for us," said Verkaik. "We have to keep getting better and use this as a motivator.
The Knights scored 16 points in the third quarter, behind five points from freshman Becca Richards (Fort Gratiot, Mich./Port Huron Northern). The Flying Dutch led after the third quarter, 59-31.
Calvin would go on to score 16 points again in the fourth quarter to finish the game with 47.
Leading the Knights in scoring was senior Tiffany Karger (Cedar Springs, Mich./Cedar Springs) with six points. Junior Anna Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian) had a team-high four rebounds. Timmer, Becca Richards and Tiffany Karger all recorded two blocks in the loss.
The Calvin defense forced 24 Flying Dutch turnovers on Wednesday.
The Knights return to action on Saturday as they return home to Van Noord Arena to host the Kalamazoo Hornets.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-20-16
Hope 8-0
Calvin 7-1
Olivet 5-3
Adrian 4-4
Trine 4-4
Albion 3-5
Kalamazoo 3-5
Alma 1-7
Saint Mary's 1-7
Received on Wed Jan 20 23:30:46 2016
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