An 80-58 victory at Kalamazoo College Wednesday night allowed Calvin to keep pace with the league leaders as the Knights are tied with Albion and Hope for the top spot with 6-1 conference marks.
The win also marked the 200th victory at Calvin for head coach Kevin Vande Streek who joins Ed Douma as the only two coaches in Calvin men’s basketball history to record 200 victories or more at the helm of the Knights. Now in his 10th year, Vande Streek is 200-72 (.735) while in charge of the Calvin men’s basketball program.
Calvin senior Andy Draayer of Denver, Colorado, also notched a personal milestone in the win as he connected on four three-point field goals, bringing his career total to 189 and pushing him past 1994 Calvin graduate Chris Knoester for first place on the all-time Calvin list.
“That’s a great honor for Andy and it’s one he deserves,” said Vande Streek after the game. “He’s worked very hard throughout his career and I’m glad to see him get the record. When you set a record at Calvin, you know that it means something.”
When it came time to talking about win number 200, Vande Streek deflected praise onto the players who have worn a Calvin uniform under his watch. “I’ve been very blessed to have coached many great players at Calvin,” said Vande Streek. “You don’t win 200 games without having great players so this accomplishment is a reflection of all of the players who have come through our program over the last 10 years.”
The final score of Calvin’s victory over Kalamazoo was not indicative of the competitive nature of the contest as the Knights clung to a three-point lead at 51-48 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Calvin then caught fire, ripping off a 17-5 run over the next four minutes to build an insurmountable 68-53 lead. Over the final 10:16 of play, Calvin outscored Kalamazoo 29-10.
“That’s about as well as our team can play,” said Vande Streek of his team’s final 10 minute spurt. “Kalamazoo played us very tough and the final score doesn’t indicate how hard they made us work. We just caught fired at the end and executed on both ends of the floor.”
Senior Kyle Trewhella led Calvin with 18 points including four three-point field goals while Draayer had 16 and junior Josh Meckes 14. Meckes also grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and blocked three shosts.
“Josh was extremely active,” said Vande Streek. “He was involved in plays all over the court and he was a key spark for our team.”
Freshmen Caleb Veldhouse and Tyler Zoerhof were also sparks for the Knights with Veldhouse scoring nine points while Zoerhof had seven points and a game-high seven rebounds off the bench while also collecting four assists.
As a team, Calvin collected 18 assists against just 10 turnovers. Meanwhile Kalamazoo turned the ball over 19 times against just 10 assists.
Kalamazoo was led in scoring by Pat Clancy who tallied 11 points while Kyle Konwinski had 10.
Calvin opens the second half of its MIAA campaign on Saturday when it hosts Tri-State at 3:00 p.m. at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
Newspaper Box Score Calvin vs Kalamazoo 01/25/06 8:00 p.m. at Anderson Athletic Center, Kalamazoo, MI At Anderson Athletic Center, Kalamazoo, MI CALVIN 80, KALAMAZOO 58 CALVIN (13-5, 6-1 MIAA) Kyle Trewhella 6-10 2-2 18; Andy Draayer 4-8 4-4 16; Josh Meckes 5-8 4-5 14; Caleb Veldhouse 4-10 0-0 9; Tyler Zoerhof 3-4 0-0 7; Dustin Smith 1-6 2-2 5; Micah Chappell 2-5 0-0 5; Eric DeVries 2-2 0-0 4; Tim Katt 1-1 0-0 2; Joe Pearcy 0-2 0-0 0; Patrick Duff 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Prins 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 28-58 12-14 80. KALAMAZOO (6-12, 3-4 MIAA) Pat Clancy 3-9 4-4 11; Kyle Konwinski 4-11 1-2 10; Thomas Greer 3-5 0-0 8; Henry McCain 3-5 0-1 6; Mat Kellogg 3-3 0-0 6; Damon Krohn 0-2 5-5 5; Brad Brinkman 2-5 0-0 4; Tyler Worst 1-3 0-0 3; Tim Herman 0-3 3-4 3; Phil Weaver 1-1 0-0 2; Adam Bezemek 0-0 0-0 0; Roger Garfield 0-0 0-0 0; Jon Matych 0-0 0-0 0; Charlie Goetz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 13-16 58. Calvin........................ 37 43 - 80 Kalamazoo..................... 35 23 - 58 3-point goals-Calvin 12-20 (Andy Draayer 4-7; Kyle Trewhella 4-5; Caleb Veldhouse 1-2; Tyler Zoerhof 1-2; Dustin Smith 1-2; Micah Chappell 1-2), Kalamazoo 5-22 (Thomas Greer 2-3; Pat Clancy 1-4; Kyle Konwinski 1-5; Tyler Worst 1-3; Tim Herman 0-3; Damon Krohn 0-2; Henry McCain 0-2). Fouled out--Calvin-None, Kalamazoo-None. Rebounds-Calvin 30 (Tyler Zoerhof 7), Kalamazoo 30 (Brad Brinkman 6). Assists-Calvin 18 (Josh Meckes 5), Kalamazoo 10 (Kyle Konwinski 4). Total fouls-Calvin 15, Kalamazoo 17. A-420