Aquinas (4-3) took control early, building a 25-12 lead at the 10-minute mark of the first half. The Saints then extended their lead to 19 points before settling on a 44-27 lead at halftime.
The Aquinas lead ballooned to as much as 27 points in the second half before the Knights began to chip away at the deficit, using a 17-8 run over the final six minutes to close to within 15.
Freshman point guard Caleb Veldhouse led Calvin in defeat with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting while junior forward Kyle Snoeyink tossed in a career-high 13 points and grabbed five rebounds. Calvin shot just 42.3 percent overall but did connect on 50 percent of its attempts in the second half.
Aquinas shot 45.3 percent overall and placed five players in double-digits in scoring led by James Telman who popped in 19 points. Pedja Lasic added 16 points and seven boards while Jeff Wierzbicki had 11 points and Damien Mayo and Jeff Jayson 10 points apiece.
Aquinas held a 42-30 rebounding advantage including 18-6 on the offensive glass. The rebounding advantage allowed Aquinas to score 18 second chance points to the six second chance points of Calvin.
In Saturday’s championship game Hope defeated Cornerstone 79-59. Hope senior Andy Phillips was named the tournament’s MVP. Also named to the all-tournament team were Lazic of Aquinas, Mike Cameron and John Jonker of Cornerstone and Greg Immink and Stephen Cramer of Hope.
Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts the Trolls of Trinity Christian College at 7:30 p.m. at the Calvin Fieldhouse. Trinity is led by head coach Tim Walker who served as an assistant coach for the Calvin men’s basketball team during the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 seasons.
Calvin College vs Aquinas College 11/26/05 noon at at VanAndel Arena (Grand Rapids, MI) At at VanAndel Arena (Grand Rapids, MI) AQUINAS COLLEGE 86, CALVIN COLLEGE 71 CALVIN COLLEGE (2-3) Caleb Veldhouse 6-11 3-3 16; Kyle Snoeyink 5-8 3-4 13; Dustin Smith 3-4 0-0 8; Micah Chappell 0-4 7-8 7; Kyle Trewhella 3-8 0-0 6; Joe Pearcy 1-3 4-4 6; Tyler Zoerhof 1-4 3-6 5; Andy Draayer 2-7 0-0 5; Eric DeVries 1-3 2-4 4; Kevin Prins 0-0 1-2 1; Tim Katt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-52 23-31 71. AQUINAS COLLEGE (4-3) James Telman 6-15 4-4 19; Pedja Lazic 8-10 0-0 16; Jeff Wierzbicki 4-4 3-4 11; Jeff Jayson 4-12 0-0 10; Damien Mayo 4-12 2-2 10; Jordan Torres 3-5 2-3 9; Josh Summerfield 4-5 0-0 8; Aaron Heindl 1-4 1-2 3; Paul Bee 0-5 0-0 0; Mike McManaman 0-1 0-0 0; Randy Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan Morlock 0-1 0-0 0; Kaleb House 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Blicher 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-75 12-15 86. Calvin College................ 27 44 - 71 Aquinas College............... 44 42 - 86 3-point goals-Calvin College 4-17 (Dustin Smith 2-2; Andy Draayer 1-6; Caleb Veldhouse 1-3; Kyle Trewhella 0-3; Micah Chappell 0-1; Kyle Snoeyink 0-2), Aquinas College 6-16 (James Telman 3-6; Jeff Jayson 2-8; Jordan Torres 1-1; Ryan Morlock 0-1). Fouled out--Calvin College-None, Aquinas College-Josh Summerfield; Pedja Lazic. Rebounds-Calvin College 30 (Eric DeVries 6), Aquinas College 42 (Josh Summerfield 8). Assists-Calvin College 11 (Andy Draayer 2; Kyle Trewhella 2; Caleb Veldhouse 2; Eric DeVries 2), Aquinas College 23 (Mike Blicher 5; Jeff Jayson 5). Total fouls-Calvin College 15, Aquinas College 23. Consolation game of Select Bank Hall of Fame Classic.