After splitting games with Hope during the regular season, Calvin took the rubber match as it defeated the Flying Dutchmen, 82-61 in an MIAA Tournament semifinal game Friday night at Albion to advance to the MIAA Tournament finals for the second straight year.
The Calvin victory snapped a four-game losing skid to Hope in MIAA Tournament play. The Knights will face the host Britons of Albion (24-2), an 86-77 winner over Adrian in Friday's second semifinal game.
The first couple minutes of Calvin's game with Hope were an intense battle with four lead changes between the Knights (21-6) and the Flying Dutchmen (15-12).
Hope took its last lead of the game, 10-7, before Calvin scored 10 straight points including big three-pointers from Ricky Shilts and Josh
Vriesman. Hope battled back to within four points of Calvin, 20-16, but Calvin retailiated, scoring another 10 straight points, extending
its lead to fourteen, 30-16, with 11 minutes left in the first half.
At the half, Calvin held its biggest lead yet, 41-25.
Senior forward Dan Aultman scored six of Calvin’s first eight points in the second half
to maintain Calvin's double-digit margin. The Knights took their biggest lead of 20 points with 11:50 left in the game, 61-41.
However, Hope went on a 12-4 run to narrow the gap to 12 with 7:45 left in the game. A crucial three-pointer by junior forward Joel Hoekstra and five points from junior guard Kyle Trewhella extended Calvin’s lead to 18, 73-55. Calvin gained its biggest lead of the game, 80-58, on an Andy Draayer three-pointer with 3:08 left to play in the game with the Knights cruising from there.
“We were really good. Defensively we were very intense,” said Calvin’s head coach Kevin Vande Streek. “Tonight we all seemed to be very
confident.”
Calvin placed four players in double-digits in scoring with Aultman leading the way with 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting while Ricky Shilts and Trewhella had 13 points apiece. Hoekstra chipped in with 11 points and a game and career-high six assists.
Hope was led in defeat by Travis Spaman who collected 14 points and five rebounds.
Calvin held Hope to 41.5 percent field goal shooting including just 34.6 percent in the first half when it jumped out to a double-digit lead. Conversely, Calvin shot 58.9 percent from the floor and connected on 12 of 23 from beyond the three-point arc for a 52.2 percent three-point clip.
“So much of it hinged on us defensively and getting stops. Shilts and Joshn Vriesman set the tone for the defense,” said Vande Streek. “We didn’t double one time tonight. The guys took great pride in doing it individually. This was our best defensive rebounding game against Hope
this year.”
“The league has been really balanced all year long" continued Vande Streek. "Tomorrow night,
whoever it is we face is certainly going to be a great opponent. Hopefully we bring our ‘A’ game.”
The Calvin-Albion championship final is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. It will mark just the second time that the two teams have met in the tournament final with Calvin edging the Britons 74-72 in the 1993 championship game.
MORE CALVIN BASKETBALL NOTES
*Calvin is now 25-7 in MIAA Tournament play.
*Calvin will be making its 10th appearance in the MIAA Tournament Championship game. The Knights are 6-3 in nine prior MIAA Tournament finals with all three defeats coming against Hope.
*Calvin junior Andy Draayer connected on a pair of three-pointers in Friday's game with Hope, bringing his season total to 88, matching the Calvin single-season record originally established by Todd Hennink during the 1989-90 season.
*Calvin now leads the all-time series with Hope 80-77. In addition, the Knights have retaken the lead in total points scored in the series with Calvin holding an 11-point edge with 10,550 points to the 10,539 points of Hope.
Newspaper Box Score Hope College vs Calvin College 2.25.05 5:45 p.m. at Kresge Gymnasium; Albion, Mich. At Kresge Gymnasium; Albion, Mich. CALVIN COLLEGE 82, HOPE COLLEGE 61 HOPE COLLEGE (15-12) Travis Spaman 4-5 6-7 14; Andy Phillips 4-12 1-2 9; Kyle Kleersnyder 4-7 1-3 9; Jake Hogeboom 3-6 0-0 7; Stephen Cramer 2-6 2-2 6; Daane Griffeth 2-9 2-2 6; Peter Overbeek 1-1 1-2 3; Jack Klunder 1-2 1-2 3; Scott Richardson 1-2 0-0 2; Jeff Carlson 0-2 2-2 2; Brett Jager 0-1 0-0 0; Travis Dyke 0-0 0-0 0; Patrick Woolpert 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 16-22 61. CALVIN COLLEGE (21-6) Dan Aultman 8-12 0-0 16; Kyle Trewhella 6-10 0-0 13; Ricky Shilts 5-6 0-0 13; Joel Hoekstra 3-4 4-4 11; Andy Draayer 3-7 0-0 8; Josh Vriesman 2-5 0-0 6; Brad Sall 2-6 0-0 6; Brian Roelofs 2-2 0-0 5; Kyle Snoeyink 1-3 0-0 2; Josh Meckes 1-1 0-0 2; Eric DeVries 0-0 0-0 0; Tony Zwiers 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Prins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-56 4-4 82. Hope College.................. 25 36 - 61 Calvin College................ 41 41 - 82 3-point goals-Hope College 1-11 (Jake Hogeboom 1-2; Andy Phillips 0-1; Stephen Cramer 0-1; Daane Griffeth 0-5; Jeff Carlson 0-1; Brett Jager 0-1), Calvin College 12-23 (Ricky Shilts 3-4; Andy Draayer 2-5; Brad Sall 2-4; Josh Vriesman 2-3; Joel Hoekstra 1-1; Brian Roelofs 1-1; Kyle Trewhella 1-4; Dan Aultman 0-1). Fouled out--Hope College-None, Calvin College-None. Rebounds-Hope College 27 (Travis Spaman 5), Calvin College 31 (Dan Aultman 6). Assists-Hope College 12 (Jake Hogeboom 4), Calvin College 21 (Joel Hoekstra 6). Total fouls-Hope College 11, Calvin College 20. A-1148 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament (semifinal #1)