CKSR (Women's Basketball Edges Albion on Road / Men's Basketball Nipped by Albion in Final Second at Home)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 3, 2016

Women's Basketball Edges Albion on the Road;
Men's Basketball Nipped By Albion in Final Second

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 58, Albion 53

ALBION, Mich. - The No. 19 Knights beat the Albion Britons on the road Wednesday night, 58-53. The Knights rallied from five points down in the final five minutes to secure the victory. The win moves Calvin to 16-4 on the season and secures the Knights a spot in the MIAA Tournament later this month with a 10-1 record in the MIAA. Albion moves to 8-12 and 4-7 in the league.
"I am very happy with the road win," said head coach John Ross. "Albion did a fantastic job against us defensively and forced us into tough shots. I am happy with the team and the drive we showed at the end of the game to get the win."
The Knights started out slow in the first quarter with Albion leading, 10-9, with 2:33 remaining in the first 10 minutes. Calvin would go onto finish the quarter on a 5-0 run, highlighted by a jumper from freshman Emily VanVliet (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian) and a three-point basket by sophomore Ali Spayde (Lewis Center, Ohio/Worthington Christian).
The Maroon and Gold would push the lead to five points with 6:26 left in the second quarter, when junior Anna Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian) scored three points the old fashioned way. The Knights would once again push the lead to five with 2:56 remaining in the half, before the Britons would finish the half on a 6-0 run, to take a 28-27 lead going into halftime.
Calvin started the third quarter on a 4-0 run to take the lead back from the Britons. Albion would fight back and outscore the Knights in the third quarter, 15-13, to lead 43-40.
The Britons would strike first in the fourth quarter with a layup from Albion freshman Jay Bard to extend the lead to five, but it would be all Calvin from there on out. With Albion leading 48-43 with 6:34 remaining Anna Timmer cut the lead to three before Albion senior Darian Payne pushed the lead back to five at 50-45. It would be all Calvin from there with the Knights closing the game on a 13-3 run. The late run was propelled by seven points from Ali Spayde and four points from sophomore Bre Luurtsema (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian). Leading 55-53, Spayde helped seal the deal draining a three-point basket with 16 second remaining from a pass from Anna Timmer.
Anna Timmer led the Knights on Wednesday with 16 points and three assists. Bre Luurtsema finished the game with a team-high 10 rebounds and six steals.
The Knights dominated the boards on Wednesday night, outrebounding the Britons in the win, 48-39. Calvin took advantage of the Albion turnovers, scoring 31 points off of the Britons turnovers.
The Knights return to action on Saturday as Calvin faces another tough road test at Trine.

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-3-16 GAMES

Hope 12-0
Calvin 10-1
Olivet 8-4
Adrian 6-5
Trine 6-6
Albion 4-7
Kalamazoo 3-9
Alma 2-9
Saint Mary's 1-11

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Albion 67, Calvin 66

By Gina de Haan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After three straight games on the road, the Knights were back in action at Van Noord Arena on Wednesday night as they played host to conference opponent Albion College.
Calvin entered the contest looking to snap a three game losing streak. In the final days of January, Knights dropped three MIAA contests to Adrian, Hope and Trine, their record standing at 8-11, 3-5 MIAA.
Albion possessed a 9-10 overall record prior to Wednesday's game, with a 4-4 conference mark. The Britons were also looking for a win after dropping a hard fought game to Hope.
Despite a second half comeback effort led by senior Jordan Daley (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), the Knights were unable to recover from a 15-point first half deficit, falling 67-66 to the Britons in the final seconds of the game.
To start the game, the visiting Brits quickly earned a 5-0 advantage, but the Knights got on the board after a three-pointer by senior Austin Parks (Niles/Niles HS). After a made jump shot by Albion's Jaylin Fordham, Calvin scored the next four points to tie the game at seven.
The teams went back and forth with scoring, Daley, Parks, freshman Carlos Amoros (Wyoming/Wyoming HS) and Cam Denney (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell HS) all contributing offensively, until both the Knights and Britons had 18 points and 10 minutes remained in the 1st half.
Albion began to pull away, earning itself a six-point lead (24-18) with 7:35 left before the break.
Daley scored four straight points to make the score 24-22, but the Knights were held scoreless for the following 6:30 while the Brits went on a 15-point run, capped off by back-to-back triples by Fordham and Jason Zahran.
Daley snapped Calvin's dry spell by sinking a jumper with under a minute left in the half, but the scoreboard read 39-24 in Albion's favor as the teams headed into the break.
In the first half, the Knights shot 33.3% (10-30) from the floor and 22.2% (2-9) from three-point range while the Brits made 51.6% (16-31) of their field goals and 50% (5-10) of their shots behind the arc.
Coming out of the break, the Brits extended their lead to 18 after a three-point play by Fordham, but Daley answered with a jumper and a made shot from behind the arc to bring the score to 42-29.
Albion's Ryan Robert hit a triple, but was answered by eight consecutive Calvin points. Amoros knocked down a free throw, Daley put in a layup and then capitalized on a three-point play and sophomore Michael Wilks (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) completed the run by sinking a jumper from the corner, cutting Albion's lead to eight.
The Britons were able to earn back a comfortable 14-point lead as the midpoint of the 2nd half neared. A three-point bucket by Denney brought the score to 51-40, but Albion's Corey Wheeler quickly responded with a three of his own.
Points by both teams followed, but after Fordham's fourth made three-pointer, Albion had a 59-44 lead with 7:30 remaining.
Freshman Preston Huckaby (Grand Rapids/Northpointe Christian HS) got the Knights rolling by capitalizing on a three-point play. After an Albion layup, Wilks and Daley both sunk triples, cutting the visitors' lead to 8 (61-53) with just over five minutes remaining. A pair of free throws by Wilks would bring the Knights' deficit to six.
After scoring on both ends, Daley stepped up and knocked down a big three-pointer, cutting the Brits' lead to 5 (65-60) with 2:21 left to play.
With just over a minute remaining, Daley drove, was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws.
On the other end of the floor, Albion's Dakota Kazen was sent to the line and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Michael Wilks grabbed the rebound, outletted the ball to Daley who fed Cam Denney for a dunk, making the score 65-64 still in favor of the Brits.
Huckaby got the steal on Albion's inbounds play and was fouled by Fordham, his fifth of the game. Huckaby sunk both bonus free throws, giving the Knights a 66-65 lead with 25 seconds to play.
However, Calvin was unable to get a stop. Albion's Dakota Kazen threw up a shot that fell with 1.1 seconds remaining, clinching the victory for his team despite a last second shot attempt by the Knights.
The Knights outscored Albion 42-28 in the second half.
"I'm certainly proud of our guys for hanging in there, going to the end and not giving up. A lot of effort, it's just really disappointing not winning," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We just could not get it in. I felt that we had pretty good looks and a couple new things we put in that got us a lot of good shots, but we were just unable to make shots in the first half."
Daley led all scorers with 32 points (13-21 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 3-3 FT), 22 of those second-half points. Denney recorded a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Wilks also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Albion was led in scoring by Jaylin Fordham who put up 19 points, shooting a solid 4-5 from behind the three-point arc. Jordan Herron and Corey Wheeler had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
This Saturday, Calvin will host Olivet College (2-7, 3-17 MIAA) in another conference contest. In the first MIAA matchup of the season between the Comets and Knights, Calvin took home a 91-44 lead. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.

MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-3-16 GAMES

Alma 9-0
Hope 8-1
Albion 5-4
Trine 5-4
Adrian 4-5
Calvin 3-6
Olivet 2-7
Kalamazoo 0-9
Received on Wed Feb 3 23:54:57 2016