Calvin will face rival Hope in the championship game Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with the winner receiving the MIAA’s automatic bid to next week’s NCAA III Tournament. Hope advanced to Saturday’s final with a 76-65 victory over Albion in Friday’s first semifinal game.
Saturday night’s title tilt will feature the 160th meeting between the two storied rivals including the seventh time in MIAA Tournament play where Hope holds a 4-2 advantage over the Knights. In addition, it will be the fourth meeting between Calvin and Hope in an MIAA Tournament Championship game with Hope having won all three previous finals (71-60 in 1995, 63-62 in 1997 and 70-63 in 2002).
Saturday’s game will also feature a pair of nationally-ranked teams as Hope (25-2) is ranked second in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll while Calvin (22-5) is ranked 13th.
In its win over Kalamazoo Friday night, Calvin once again trailed an opponent at halftime, falling behind the Hornets 33-31 at the break. Calvin outscored the Hornets 35-22 in the second half however, using a 21-6 run to pull away for the win. The second half outburst repeated a strong second half theme for the Knights as they have now outscored teams by a cumulative total of 1,049-908 in the second half of play this season.
Senior Andy Draayer led Calvin with 13 points with 11 coming in the second half. Freshman Caleb Veldhouse was next with 12 points with eight of his points coming in the second half. Junior center Josh Meckes also had a big night, scoring 11 points, grabbing six boards, collecting three assists, three blocks and a pair of steals. Senior Kyle Trewhella chipped in with eight points including a pair of assists and a pair of steals.
After allowing Kalamazoo (11-16) to shoot 48.1 percent in the first half, Calvin tightened its defensive screws in the second half, limiting the Hornets to 28 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes of play. Calvin also held a 37-34 rebounding advantage including 21-16 in the second half.
Kalamazoo was led in defeat by senior point guard Tim Herman who scored a game-high 16 points while fellow senior Kyle Konwinski added nine points and four assists. Kalamazoo finished with a final shooting percentage of 38.5 percent.
Calvin is now 29-6 in MIAA Tournament play and 11-4 in semifinal games. The Knights are also 7-3 in MIAA Tournament Championship games.
Newspaper Box Score Kalamazoo College vs Calvin College 02/24/06 8:15 pm at at Calvin Fieldhouse (GR, MI) At at Calvin Fieldhouse (GR, MI) CALVIN COLLEGE 66, KALAMAZOO COLLEGE 55 KALAMAZOO COLLEGE (11-16) Tim Herman 5-8 3-3 16; Kyle Konwinski 3-11 2-4 9; Pat Clancy 3-8 0-0 8; Henry McCain 3-8 1-2 7; Thomas Greer 2-2 0-0 6; Phil Weaver 2-4 0-0 4; Brad Brinkman 1-3 0-2 3; Tyler Worst 1-5 0-0 2; Adam Bezemek 0-0 0-0 0; Mat Kellogg 0-1 0-0 0; Roger Garfield 0-0 0-0 0; Damon Krohn 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 6-11 55. CALVIN COLLEGE (22-5) Andy Draayer 4-11 2-2 13; Caleb Veldhouse 5-13 0-0 12; Josh Meckes 4-8 3-5 11; Kyle Trewhella 3-7 2-2 8; Dustin Smith 2-5 0-0 5; Kyle Snoeyink 1-3 2-2 4; Tyler Zoerhof 2-6 0-0 4; Kevin Prins 1-1 0-0 3; Eric DeVries 0-2 3-4 3; Micah Chappell 1-4 1-2 3; Tim Katt 0-0 0-0 0; Joe Pearcy 0-0 0-0 0; Patrick Duff 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 23-60 13-19 66. Kalamazoo College............. 33 22 - 55 Calvin College................ 31 35 - 66 3-point goals-Kalamazoo College 9-25 (Tim Herman 3-6; Pat Clancy 2-6; Thomas Greer 2-2; Kyle Konwinski 1-4; Brad Brinkman 1-1; Damon Krohn 0-2; Tyler Worst 0-3; Henry McCain 0-1), Calvin College 7-18 (Andy Draayer 3-7; Caleb Veldhouse 2-6; Dustin Smith 1-2; Kevin Prins 1-1; Kyle Trewhella 0-2). Fouled out--Kalamazoo College-None, Calvin College-None. Rebounds-Kalamazoo College 34 (Henry McCain 6), Calvin College 37 (Kyle Snoeyink 8). Assists-Kalamazoo College 11 (Kyle Konwinski 4), Calvin College 13 (Kyle Snoeyink 3; Josh Meckes 3). Total fouls-Kalamazoo College 17, Calvin College 11. A-2657 MIAA Tournament Semifinal Game #2. Calvin will face Hope in MIAA Tourn. Championship game Saturday night at 7:30 pm. Game will be 160th meeting between Calvin and Hope. Winner receives automatic bid to NCAA III Tourney.