The game appeared to be over with two seconds remaining when Albion, holding onto a three-point lead, was able to inbound the ball into the front court. But an errant pass sailed out of bounds, giving the Knights the ball at midcourt. After their initial pass was deflected out by an Albion defender, the Knights were left with one second left. And they took advantage of it, as Dan Aultman threw in a shot from just inside the halfcourt stripe.
Regulation ended tied at 70, with the Calvin fans in the building going bonkers.
Not only did the Knights tie the game on a miraculous three-pointer, but they also came back from a 19-point deficit that they faced with just under seven minutes to play. The Britons used a 10-2 run covering four minutes to grab what appeared to be a commanding 61-42 lead with 9:33 remaining. During the spurt junior guard Mike Bailey contributed six points, including one of his two threes, and senior forward Travis DePree, Albion’s top scorer on the night with 15 points, added four.
The Knights picked themselves up and put together a 15-1 run, from the 6:33 mark until the 3:05 remained, to cut the Albion lead to 62-57.
After an Albion timeout, Bailey hit a three-pointer to extend the lead to eight.
Calvin got back within three with 44 seconds left before two free throws by sophomore guard Zak Silas extended the Albion advantage back to five. Silas knocked down another free throw with 14 seconds left to make it 70-64, but Calvin’s Ricky Shilts hit a long three with nine seconds left, one of four threes for him on the night, to cut the lead to three and set up the final sequence.
“I thought their defense was really good,” said Albion head coach Mike Turner. “We missed shots and made a lot of turnovers down the stretch that our players don’t normally make.”
Calvin carried its momentum right into the overtime when Shilts hit his final three-pointer of the game five seconds into the period. But the Britons settled themselves down, chipped away at a four-point deficit by making four free throws, and eventually tied the contest at 76 with 1:21 remaining on a jumper by DePree.
DePree followed that up by stealing a Calvin pass while falling out of bounds with 55 seconds left. Junior forward Garrett Gibbons rebounded a missed three-pointer by senior guard Michael Thomas with 36 seconds left, giving the Britons a chance at the final shot.
Thomas waited with the ball out near midcourt, but when he was pressured by Calvin with about 13 seconds on the clock, he drove past two defenders and hit a wide open mid-range jumper to give the Britons a 78-76 lead with nine seconds remaining.
Calvin had a chance to tie, but Joel Hoekstra missed from behind the free-throw line at the buzzer.
“I didn’t want to play another OT,” Thomas said of the final shot. “This game shows the type of team we’ve got and the type of character we’ve got. The game isn’t over until the last buzzer. We just had to start over (in overtime).”
According to Turner, “If we can learn lessons without losing it’s a great thing and it’s not easy. We didn’t quit (after regulation). We didn’t get demoralized too bad and the guys showed a lot about our team.”
Perhaps lost in the immediate aftermath of the nailbiter was its significance in terms of the MIAA. With the win the Britons (18-1, 8-1) claimed sole possession of first place, one game up on the Knights (15-5, 7-2) but also holding the tiebreaker over them because of Albion’s two head-to-head wins.
Six players led a balanced scoring attack for the Britons. In addition to DePree, Thomas scored 13, all in the second half, as did Silas. Bailey and sophomore guard Lonny Fulse each scored 10 points, and junior forward Brandon Crawford, who was the focus of several double-teams all game, added nine points and nine rebounds.
Albion, led by DePree’s 16 rebounds—he’s grabbed at least 15 boards in three of the last four games—won the battle down low, outrebounding the Knights 44-40.
Leading just 35-29 at the half, the Britons used a 16-8 run over the first six minutes of the second half to take a commanding 51-37 advantage at the 14-minute mark. Thomas, completely silent the first half with two fouls, erupted during the spurt, hitting three consecutive shots, the first two being threes and the third one a long two.
Calvin cut the lead to 11 before the Britons built it out to 19.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle as there were five ties and four lead changes. Albion grabbed an 11-7 lead at the 15:55 mark behind four points from both DePree and Fulse. But Calvin came right back with an 8-0 run to take a 15-11 lead.
Albion responded by scoring six consecutive points behind layups from DePree, Silas and Fulse to go up 17-15 midway through the half. From there the lead swayed between the two teams before a Silas free throw with 6:47 left gave the Britons a 24-23 advantage. A 4-0 spurt with 2:55 remaining extended the lead to 33-27, Albion’s biggest of the game.
Silas, thanks to 3-of-3 shooting, led the Britons with eight points in the half.
For the game Albion shot 41 percent from the field compared to 39.4 percent shooting by Calvin.
Albion will continue MIAA play Saturday, Feb. 5 when it hosts Hope College at 3 p.m. as part of a Kresge Gymnasium doubleheader. The women’s game is scheduled for 7:30 following a contest that will feature Albion College alumni versus the current women’s junior varsity squad.
Reported by Jake Lloyd, '07
Albion College Sports Information Student Assistant
CALVIN COLLEGE (15-5; 7-2 MIAA) Ricky Shilts 6-11 4-4 20; Dan Aultman 9-20 0-0 19; Brian Roelofs 3-7 2-2 9; Joel Hoekstra 2-4 2-4 7; Josh Meckes 2-8 3-4 7; Brad Sall 2-8 1-1 5; Andy Draayer 1-2 0-0 3; Kyle Snoeyink 1-3 0-0 2; Josh Vriesman 1-4 0-0 2; Todd Koetsier 1-4 0-0 2; Kevin Prins 0-0 0-0 0; Eric DeVries 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-71 12-15 76. ALBION COLLEGE (18-1; 8-1 MIAA) Travis DePree 6-11 3-4 15; Mike Thomas 5-14 1-2 13; Zak Silas 4-7 4-6 13; Lonny Fulse 3-6 4-5 10; Mike Bailey 3-4 2-4 10; Brandon Crawford 1-8 7-10 9; Garrett Gibbons 2-6 0-0 6; Brian Champine 1-1 0-0 2; Rick Palmer 0-2 0-0 0; Evan Way 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-61 21-31 78. Calvin College................ 29 41 6 - 76 Albion College................ 35 35 8 - 78 3-point goals-Calvin College 8-23 (Ricky Shilts 4-8; Brian Roelofs 1-3; Joel Hoekstra 1-2; Dan Aultman 1-2; Andy Draayer 1-2; Todd Koetsier 0-1; Josh Vriesman 0-2; Kyle Snoeyink 0-1; Brad Sall 0-2), Albion College 7-23 (Garrett Gibbons 2-4; Mike Bailey 2-3; Mike Thomas 2-8; Zak Silas 1-4; Rick Palmer 0-2; Lonny Fulse 0-1; Travis DePree 0-1). Fouled out--Calvin College-None, Albion College-None. Rebounds-Calvin College 40 (Dan Aultman 7; Todd Koetsier 7), Albion College 44 (Travis DePree 16). Assists-Calvin College 12 (Ricky Shilts 4), Albion College 13 (Travis DePree 5). Total fouls-Calvin College 23, Albion College 21. A-944