CKSR (Men's Basketball Splits Pair of Games at Wittenberg Tournament)

CALVIN KNIGHTS SPORTS REPORT FOR DEC. 31, 2016

Men's Basketball Splits Games at Wittenberg Tournament

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 80, Geneva 57
SPRINGFIELD, Oh. - The Calvin men's basketball team claimed an 80-57 victory over Geneva College in the consolation game of the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic Friday afternoon at Wittenberg University.

After shooting just 39.7 percent from the floor in a 68-63 loss to Millikin University the night before, Calvin responded by connecting on 54.2 percent of its field goal attempts against Geneva including 42.1 percent ( 8 of 19) from three-point range.

Calvin (5-6) jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the opening minutes and stretched its lead to 28-17 on a thunderous two-hand slam by sophomore Austin Bykerk (Jenison, Mich./Unity Christian HS) with 5:36 left in the half.

Junior Michael Wilks (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) capped off the first half with a jumper in the closing seconds to give the Knights a 38-26 halftime lead. Wilks fueled Calvin's first half offensive surge with 16 points.

Calvin opened the second half with a 6-3 scoring run to build a 46-29 lead. Geneva (5-5) whittled the Calvin lead down to nine points on three occasions early in the second half but senior Nate Drews (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Lutheran HS) responded with a energizing three-pointer that gave the Knights a 56-44 lead with 11:52 remaining. The Calvin lead remained in double-digits the rest of the way.

Wilks finished with a game-high 21 points while Bykerk had 12 points and six boards and senior Cam Denney 11 points and seven rebounds.

In his first collegiate start, freshman Tony DeWitte (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) tossed in eight points including a pair of three-pointers. Senior Michael Welch (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore HS) also had eight points while junior Mike Siegel (Fremont, Mich./Fremont HS) chipped in with seven points.

Friday's game started nearly an hour late due to a late arrival of game officials. According to head coach Kevin Vande Streek, the Knights refused to let the obstacle of a delayed start in a consolation game stand in the way of gaining a victory.

"We faced some adversity today and to the credit of our guys, they were able to overcome some obstacles," said Vande Streek. "We had a very poor shooting performance last night and we could have been down on ourselves because we had designs on winning this tournament. Then we were delayed for almost an hour and we're also working through a few injuries. I was really proud of the way our team responded."

One of the players that responded was Wilks who scored more than 20 points for the third time this season and was named to the all-tournament team. "I thought he (Wilks) really carried us offensively in the first half," said Vande Streek. "Michael is a smart player who knows when to make cuts to open areas and he's good at making the mid-range jump shot in traffic."

Calvin received 26 bench points in Friday's victory and outrebounded Geneva 39-25. "It was a good team effort," said Vande Streek. "We had contributions from a lot of guys. Defensively we were good today. The biggest difference today was that we made shots. Last night we did not."

In Friday's championship game, Wittenberg defeated Millikin 55-49.
Calvin will now turn its attention to its MIAA opener next Wednesday at Trine University. Tip time at Trine is slated for 8 p.m.

THURSDAY RECAP
MILLIKIN 68, Calvin 63

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Knights fell in the semifinals of the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic on Thursday afternoon on the campus of Wittenberg University. The Maroon and Gold fell to Millikin, 68-63.
Millikin was able to take the lead on Thursday with some sharp shooting from beyond the arc. Millikin shot 13 of 27 from three-point range.
Calvin and Millikin were in a defensive battle in the first half with the two teams exchanging the lead. Millikin would hit a three-point basket as time expired on the half and took a 34-25 lead into halftime.
Trailing 44-34, Calvin would go on a 13-5 run to cut the deficit to 49-47. Junior Mike Siegel (Fremont, Mich./Fremont) had seven points for Calvin during the run.
The Knights would cut the deficit to three points on multiple occasions, but were unable to regain the lead in the second half.
Mike Siegel led all players on Thursday with a career-high 19 points. Senior Cam Denney (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) recorded his third double-double of the season with 15 rebounds and 13 points.
The Knights outrebounded Millikin on Thursday, 38-35.
Received on Sat Dec 31 08:58:02 2016