There will be a rubber match between Calvin and Hope in men’s basketball. The two rivals advanced to an MIAA Tournament semifinal showdown Friday with first round victories Wednesday night as Calvin recorded an 86-67 triumph while Hope topped Alma 90-77 in a first round game.
Friday’s MIAA Tournament semifinal game is scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m. at Albion’s Kresge Gymnasium. It will mark the 157th meeting between the two teams in a series that sees Calvin holding a slim 79-77 series lead. It will also mark the second time in three years that the two teams will meet at the Kresge Gymnasium as they also met in the 2003 MIAA Tournament semifinals with Hope recording an 81-80 victory in overtime.
Calvin and Hope split their regular season meetings with Calvin prevailing 66-54 in January at the Calvin Fieldhouse while Hope edged Calvin 71-68 a week ago at the Holland Civic Center.
Calvin’s first round victory over Kalamazoo Wednesday night was a game of huge momentum swings. Ranked 17th in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, Calvin (20-6) raced out to a 43-23 halftime lead. Junior Kyle Trewhella started the Knights off fast, hitting a three-pointer only two seconds into the game. Calvin built an eight point lead, 12-4, three minutes into the game. Calvin went on a 17-0 run with 10 of the points coming from senior Dan Aultman. The Knights led the Hornets at halftime by 20 points, 43-23.
Kalamazoo (8-17) would not fold however as it outscored Calvin 38-15 in the first 12 minutes of the second half to take a stunning 61-58 lead.
The Hornets hit two three-pointers within the first minute of the second half. Kalamazoo battled back to narrow the margin to eight points, 57-49. With 10 minutes left in the game, Kalamazoo stole the lead for the first and only time in the game, 61-58 on a three-pointer by Kalamazoo’s Damon Krohn with eight minutes to go. Junior Andy Draayer then delivered a pair of clutch baskets to regain the lead 63-61 for the Knights.
Another pivotal moment came with just over three minutes remaining as Kalamazoo missed a wide-open three-pointer that could have cut the Calvin lead down to three points. The shot was off the mark and moments later, Calvin senior Ricky Shilts swished in a triple from the right side that gave the Knights a nine-point edge at 75-66 and sparked a 14-1 run to close out the game.
“The most positive thing I can say is we’re still playing,” said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek. “The overriding factor in tournament play is we have practice tomorrow.”
Aultman led the Knights with a game-high 26 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, and a game-high three
blocks. Trewhella scored 15 points. Sophomore
Josh Meckes scored 13 points and had three blocks. The scoring effort by Meckes matched his single-game scoring high.
Shilts dished out a game high seven assists, and Draayer had 10 points and three steals.
“Defensively, our second half performance was awful,” said Vande Streek. “Kalamazoo came out very well in the second half and took it to us.”
Ryan Konwinski scored a team high 19 points for the Hornets including 11 in the second half while Tony
Wichmann scored 18 points and grabbed at team high 8 rebounds.
“A lot of it’s a mental game. We’ll continue to focus,” said Vande Streek. “You can’t do things differently than you normally do. Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson.”
Calvin will now turn its attention to Hope (15-11) on Friday night with top-seeded Albion (23-2) set to face fourth-seeded Adrian (15-10) in Friday’s second semifinal game.
“They’re (Hope College) a very talented team. We split with them during the year,” said Vande Streek. “So it should be a very good ball game.”
**ADDITIONAL NOTES FOR FRIDAY’S MIAA TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL GAME**
*With its victory over Kalamazoo Wednesday night, Calvin reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. It is the 14th 20-win campaign in Calvin men’s basketball history including the fourth under head coach Kevin Vande Streek.
*Calvin and Hope will be meeting for the sixth time in MIAA Tournament Play with Hope having won four of the previous five meetings. It will also be the third time the two rivals have squared off in the MIAA Tournament semifinals with Calvin defeating Hope 77-69 in the 1993 MIAA Tournament semifinals at the Calvin Fieldhouse with Hope winning 81-80 in overtime in 2003 at Albion’s Kresge Gymnasium.
*Friday’s game will mark the third time that Calvin and Hope have squared off on a neutral floor in post-season play. In addition to the 2003 MIAA Tournament semifinal game, the two teams also played in a 1981 MIAA Playoff game at Middleville High School to determine the MIAA’s representative to the NCAA III Tournament. Calvin won that game 69-67 although it was not a part of MIAA Tournament play.
*Heading into Friday night, Calvin has posted an overall won-loss record of 24-7 in 14 MIAA Tournaments that includes six MIAA Tournament titles. Calvin has the best won-loss record of any MIAA school in league tournament play and also has the most MIAA Tournament crowns on its mantle. Hope has the second-best won-loss record with a 20-8 won-loss record in MIAA Tournament that includes five MIAA Tournament titles.
*Calvin is now 9-0 in first round MIAA Tournament games.
Newspaper Box Score Kalamazoo College vs Calvin College 02/23/05 7:30 at Grand Rapids, MI At Grand Rapids, MI CALVIN COLLEGE 86, KALAMAZOO COLLEGE 67 KALAMAZOO COLLEGE (7-18) Ryan Konwinski 9-22 1-1 19; Tony Wichmann 6-10 3-4 18; Pat Clancy 3-7 0-0 9; Tim Herman 2-5 2-4 7; Kyle Konwinski 2-9 0-0 5; Damon Krohn 1-2 0-0 3; Matt Kellogg 1-3 0-0 2; Roger Garfield 1-2 0-0 2; Adam Bezemek 0-0 2-2 2; Brad Brinkman 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Wagner 0-0 0-0 0; Robert Boyle 0-1 0-0 0; Phillip Weaver 0-0 0-0 0; Eli Savit 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 8-11 67. CALVIN COLLEGE (20-6) Dan Aultman 12-20 1-1 26; Kyle Trewhella 5-9 2-2 15; Josh Meckes 3-5 7-8 13; Andy Draayer 3-8 2-3 10; Joel Hoekstra 3-5 3-4 9; Ricky Shilts 2-7 0-0 5; Brad Sall 2-4 1-2 5; Brian Roelofs 1-4 0-0 3; Kyle Snoeyink 0-0 0-0 0; Josh Vriesman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-62 16-20 86. Kalamazoo College............. 23 44 - 67 Calvin College................ 43 43 - 86 3-point goals-Kalamazoo College 9-22 (Pat Clancy 3-3; Tony Wichmann 3-4; Damon Krohn 1-2; Tim Herman 1-4; Kyle Konwinski 1-6; Ryan Konwinski 0-3), Calvin College 8-18 (Kyle Trewhella 3-4; Andy Draayer 2-7; Brian Roelofs 1-2; Ricky Shilts 1-2; Dan Aultman 1-1; Brad Sall 0-1; Joel Hoekstra 0-1). Fouled out--Kalamazoo College-None, Calvin College-None. Rebounds-Kalamazoo College 37 (Tony Wichmann 8), Calvin College 32 (Dan Aultman 10). Assists-Kalamazoo College 16 (Tim Herman 5), Calvin College 19 (Ricky Shilts 7). Total fouls-Kalamazoo College 19, Calvin College 12.