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Notebook
Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted March 8, 2000
By Greg Chandler
D3hoops.com
The two highest-ranked teams remaining in the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament collide Friday night in Grand Rapids as No. 1-ranked Calvin takes third-ranked Wooster in the Great Lakes/South sectional at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
Both teams advanced with second-round victories Saturday night, with Calvin nipping Franklin in overtime 92-90, while Wooster defeated Ohio Northern 82-71.
The similarities between the two teams are remarkable. Consider:
Both teams come in with records of 26-2.
Both teams have long winning streaks -- Wooster has 19 consecutive W's, Calvin 18.
Both teams went through their respective conferences unbeaten - Calvin in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Wooster in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
Both teams have solid senior leaders -- Calvin has two-time MIAA most valuable player Aaron Winkle, Wooster has three-time All-NCAC forward John Ellenwood.
Both teams have fabulous freshmen -- Wooster has forward Bryan Nelson, Calvin has forward Jeremy Veenstra.
However, there are also some differences between the schools as well. Calvin is seeking its third trip to the Final Four, while Wooster has never advanced beyond the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.
The Calvin-Wooster matchup is the second game of Friday's sectional doubleheader at Calvin. The first game pits No. 4 McMurry (26-1) against surprising Maryville (Tenn.) (24-3), which stunned No. 2 Hampden-Sydney on a last-second basket Saturday night. The winners meet Saturday night for the sectional title and a trip to Salem for the men's Final Four.
The trip for Calvin to the showdown with Wooster wasn't easy. The Knights had to overcome a 10-point second half deficit Saturday night to defeat Franklin. Reserve guard Nate Burgess, the smallest player on the court at 5-11, tipped in a Veenstra miss with 3.6 seconds remaining to lift Calvin to the victory.
Veenstra led the Knights with 24 points, while Winkle added 19 points and 10 boards.
Wooster, meanwhile, needed a late 11-2 run to put away Ohio Athletic Conference tournament champion Ohio Northern. It was the Fighting Scots' 33rd straight win at Timken Gymnasium.
Ellenwood led a balanced Fighting Scots' attack with 17 points, while Antwyan Reynolds added 16 and Nelson 13 points and 12 rebounds, offsetting a 24-point effort by ONU's Jeremy Thompson and 23 from Kris Oberdick.
Penn State-Behrend is the third Great Lakes school in the men's Sweet Sixteen. The unranked Lions made believers in their regional play, topping Alvernia 64-60, then upsetting the top seed in the East, Rochester Tech, 80-65.
Jostens Trophy finalist Chris Hughes was huge for PSU-Behrend (25-3) with 26 points in the Rochester Tech win. Matt Keith hit six three-pointers as he added 20. The Lions face No. 20 Cortland State in sectional play Friday.
The men's team at Calvin isn't the only basketball team getting attention on campus. The Calvin women's team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen as well, shocking No. 7 Capital 64-63 Saturday in Columbus. The upset denied the Crusaders a fourth meeting with OAC champion Baldwin-Wallace, which moved on with a 77-72 win against Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference champ Wilmington.
Trailing 54-40 with 11 minutes remaining, the unranked Lady Knights (23-6) outscored the Crusaders 24-9 the rest of the way, capped off by Mindi Andringa's 3-pointer with five seconds remaining. Andringa scored 10 of her 12 points in the game's final 4:19, while center Robyn Fennema had 25 points, nine boards and five blocks for Calvin. Amy Strine led Capital (23-5) with 13 points.
Meanwhile, No. 3 Baldwin-Wallace (27-1) survived a feisty Wilmington (21-6) team that had the Yellow Jackets on the ropes early in the second half. The Lady Quakers led 45-35 with 16 minutes remaining, but Sarah Gordon hit three three-pointers during a 22-4 B-W run that gave the Yellow Jackets a 57-49 lead. Baldwin-Wallace held on from there for the win, and will face Calvin Friday in the sectional at Washington University in St. Louis. The other half of the sectional pits No. 1 Washington (26-0) against No. 2 UW-Eau Claire (28-0).
Gordon led Baldwin-Wallace with 28 points, 23 of them in the second half, while Jen Nance added 20 points. Freshman Megan Woodruff led Wilmington, which will leave the Heartland Conference for the OAC next year, with 20 points, while Heather Meranda added 18.
Previous Columns
3/2: Tourneys knock off champs
2/22: ONU Returns
2/15: Conference top seeds set
2/8: Del Harris beat Witt
2/1: Otterbein leads OAC
1/26: Wooster takes lead
1/20: NCAC down to two unbeaten
1/15: The Game
1/11: Conference favorites
1/6: Calvin's rise slows
12/24: End of the 1900s
12/15: Ranking reshuffling
12/8: OT in the OAC
11/30: Calvin's Kent surprise
11/25: Opening-weekend upsets
11/19: Regional preview
About Greg Chandler
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