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Salem

Coverage of the men's Final Four

2000 season

Trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half, Eau Claire drew within one point on a pair of free throws by Championships MVP Sherm Carstensen with 3:06 remaining. Carstensen surpassed his day-old career high with 36 points, knocking in 12-of-23 shots and 10-of-10 free throws. The junior guard grabbed 11 rebounds and played all but 13 seconds in the game, and finished with 70 points in the two-game championship series. He just missed the Division III record of 71 recorded by Greg Grant of Trenton State in 1989.

"During the Eau Claire run we did not do a good job on the boards, but at the end of the game, when we really needed it, we came up with the big rebounds," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We also hit some very big shots at the end of the game."

Freshman Jeremy Veenstra led Calvin with 18 points. Aaron Winkle added 14 and joined Carstensen and Veenstra on the All-Tournament team. Also in double-figures for Calvin were Bryan Foltice, Nate Karsten, and Brian Krosschell all with 11. Quintin Johnson scored 14 points off the bench for the Blugolds, and Joe Jacobson added 10.

Calvin opened the game up late in the first half. Trailing by one, 22-21, the Knights outscored Wisconsin-Eau Claire 27-10 in the final 7:59 of the first half. The Blugolds shot 52 percent but were plagued by 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

In the opening 4:45 of the second half, Calvin outscored Eau Claire 12-6 to stretch its lead to 22 points. Carstensen combined with Johnson to score 30 of Eau Claire's 36 points in the final 15:15 of the game.

Calvin (30-2) won its 22nd consecutive game, and joins the 1992 team with a National Championship. Wisconsin-Eau Claire finishes 27-6 and posted a NCAA runner-up finish in its first-ever NCAA Division III Championship appearance.

"I’m awfully proud of this group of kids," said UW-Eau Claire coach Terry Gibbons. "I asked them to leave it all out on the court for 40 minutes, and that’s exactly what they did. There’s 320 or so teams that would love to be here, and we’re lucky to be one of them. When I look back at this season, I’m going to have nothing but great positive thoughts of this team."

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