Monday’s game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed two days because of wintry weather conditions that swept through the area over the weekend.
With the win, Calvin (12-8 overall, 7-3 MIAA) also moved into a tie for second place in the MIAA standings with Tri-State while Adrian (7-12 overall, 6-4 MIAA) slipped back into fourth.
Young collected 31 points on 12-21 shooting which included seven triples but it was not enough to offset five Calvin players notching double-digits in scoring.
"I'm glad he didn't get in the zone until late in the second half," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek of Young. "He was hitting deep threes from everywhere."
Vande Streek did cite the hard work of his team however.
"We played real hard," said Vande Streek, "but we made a few errors down the stretch and missed some free throws which allowed Adrian to stay in the game."
The Bulldogs got on the board first and started off with a 5-0 lead. Adrian applied heavy defensive pressure on the Knights causing a few turnovers early on and after some easy buckets inside the paint, the Bulldogs led 11-5 four minutes in. But out of a Calvin timeout, the Knights came out firing. Freshman Matt Veltema (Grandville/Calvin Christian) connected on a three pointer to give the Knights their first lead 17-14 with ten minutes remaining.
After falling behind by a point, Veltema answered with another triple, putting the Knights once again in control of the lead; a lead they would not lose for the remainder of the game. The Knights finished the final seven minutes of the half on a 16-2 scoring run that gave them a 37-24 halftime lead.
Calvin continued its scoring barrage into the second half scoring the first four points. The Knights continued to sizzle from the field as they shot 50 percent in the game. But Adrian was not about to go away. After hitting three pointer after three pointer, finishing with 13 triples in the game, the Bulldogs found themselves only down 11 with about twelve minutes to go. Calvin's lead was 52-41 after the 8-0 run by Adrian.
But Calvin answered with four straight coming from seniors Josh Meckes (Bay City/Saginaw Valley Lutheran) and Eric DeVries (Hudsonville/Unity Christian). Calvin's lead climbed back up to 16 but missed free throws and Desmond Young kept Adrian's hopes alive up until the final minute of play.
Sophomore Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian) led the Knights with 20 points and Veltema finished with 14. Derek Griffin (Whitehall/Muskegon CC) and Meckes each poured in 13 while Kyle Snoeyink (Grandville/Calvin Christian) added 10 to round up Calvin's players in double figures.
A big advantage in the game for the Knights was that they were sent to the free throw line 34 times to Adrian's 6 attempts.
Vande Streek was pleased with the effort from his players. "Our intensity level was great the whole way through. That's two games in a row now so hopefully we're getting on track for how we're supposed to play a game."
"We also handled Adrian's aggressiveness well," said Vande Streek. "We took it to the basket well which is what you have to do. Attack them back and not fall back on our heels; that's something we're getting better at."
He also felt Snoeyink had a nice game. "He's made progress in the last three weeks. A game played on instincts is great for Snoeyink because he's smart, instinctive, and very physical," Vande Streek said.
The Knights will now face rival first place Hope College Wednesday night in Holland for an 8:00p.m. contest. The game will feature the 164th meeting between the two teams in a series that spans 84 years and sees Hope holding an 82-81 series lead.
"I told our guys to focus on Adrian tonight and not look ahead to Hope. We did that and we can be happy for tonight but when that alarm goes off tomorrow, start thinking about Hope," said Vande Streek. "But I'm sure they're already thinking about them [Hope]."