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Notebook

Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted Jan. 6, 2000

The Knights of Calvin College have been one of the big stories in Division III basketball in the early part of the season, shooting up the D3hoops.com rankings from No. 22 to No. 4 with an eight-game winning streak. But the Knights hit a bump in the road over the holidays during the Southern California Shootout, losing to two schools ranked in the Top 20 in NAIA Division I. Calvin first fell in overtime to No. 16 Biola 72-65, then dropped a 90-81 decision to No. 8 Azusa Pacific, which has been in the NAIA D-I Final Four each of the last two years. Calvin's Aaron Winkle had 37 points for the tournament, including a 19-point, 10-rebound effort against Azusa Pacific for his 23rd career double-double.

The now-No. 8 Knights (8-2) then had to gear up for the start of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association season on Tuesday against Defiance. Last winter, the Yellow Jackets upset top-seeded Calvin in the semifinals of the MIAA tournament 75-72 in Grand Rapids and went on to win the tournament and the automatic NCAA bid.

The North Coast Athletic Conference race is starting up much like the experts predicted -- the three W's (Wittenberg, Wooster and newcomer Wabash) are on top of the league standings. Wittenberg, despite a 79-67 nonconference loss against Otterbein Monday, shares the NCAC lead with Wooster at 3-0 and is 9-2 overall. Wooster, which may fall out of the top 10 after an upset loss to Kalamazoo at the Micro Vane Holiday Classic two weeks ago, is also 3-0 and 9-2, while Wabash is 2-0 and 7-2. All other NCAC schools have at least two conference losses already. In fact, the bottom six teams in the league entered the week with a combined overall record of 10-49.

In the Ohio Athletic Conference, Marietta continues to be one of the region's surprise teams. After a big road victory at OAC favorite Ohio Northern, the Pioneers improved to 9-1 by winning the Randolph-Macon Tournament, defeating Randolph-Macon 84-75 and Albright 70-62. Albright, which had earlier handed Franklin and Marshall its first loss of the season, suffered its first defeat against Marietta. Senior guard Brent Cahill was named the tournament MVP, after scoring 39 points in the two games, but he had plenty of help.

Sophomore forward Jesse DuPerow scored 45 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the tournament, while junior center Wade Krause had back-to-back double-doubles with 12 points and 13 boards against Randolph Macon, then 12 points and 12 rebounds against Albright.

Meanwhile, Ohio Northern continued to struggle as the No. 15 Polar Bears lost twice against Division II powers in Florida -- 71-68 to Florida Southern and 62-49 to Tampa. ONU has dropped three in a row after a 6-1 start.

Mount St. Joseph is making a lot of noise in just its second year as a D-III program, getting off to a 10-1 start. However, MSJ hasn't played a real strong schedule yet, and how they bounce back from Wednesday night's 61-57 loss at Hanover could tell us a lot about the Lions.

Odds and ends: Mount Union wing Ron Powers II scored a career-high 27 points against Grove City, then tied an OAC single-game record with eight three-point baskets versus Pitt-Greensburg. Powers' feat was matched by Otterbein's Pat Noles, who hit eight treys in scoring a career-high 33 points against Hobart. Noles came back with six triples in the Cardinals' surprising road win at Wittenberg.

Baldwin-Wallace junior guard Jason Schefft surpassed the 1,000-point plateau over the holidays. He now has 1,008 career points. Also new to the 1,000-point club is Ohio Northern's Scott Unverferth, who had 18 points in the Polar Bears' loss to Division II power Florida Southern.

John Carroll forward Larry Holmes had 21 points and 29 rebounds in leading the Blue Streaks to the championship of the Thomas More Tournament, including 19 boards in a win against Blackburn.

Albion's Jon VanderWal was named the MIAA player of the week after a big shooting performance in the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce tournament. VanderWal hit for a career-high 30 points in a 90-86 overtime win over Chicago. The Britons went on to take the tournament with an 81-71 win over Anderson, which was ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25 earlier this season. The Britons (8-2) have won four straight heading into league play.

Women's hoops: Baldwin-Wallace stays on top of the OAC heading into the new year, but the Yellow Jackets suffered their first loss of the season over the holidays at the UNLV Next Level Desert Classic in Las Vegas, falling to unbeaten and fellow top 10 team Simpson 93-78. B-W had earlier dispatched Cal Lutheran 79-65 for its ninth straight win.

Capital's Kendra Meyer is only a junior, but she scored her 1,000th career point back on Dec. 18 in the Crusaders' 82-67 win over Savannah Art and Design. Heidelberg's Nicole Camper had a 24-point performance in her team's win over former OAC member and new NCAC member Hiram. Calvin's Robyn Fennema is at it again, winning MIAA player of the week honors for the second time this season. The senior center led the Knights to the championship of the Wittenberg Kiwanis Classic, going for 19 points and 11 rebounds in a 68-57 first round victory over Case Western Reserve and 18 points in a 66-62 victory over the host Tigers in the tournament championship game. Fennema also had six blocked shots for the tournament. After a 1-3 start, Calvin has won six straight and holds a half-game lead over preseason favorite Hope in the MIAA.

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