MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[ChicagoHopeNut]

NWHF: If the Hope ladies pull off the comeback it'll be very impressive.

First, I think today is a great, solid win for Hope and I am very impressed to see them win a game when the opponent shot significantly better from the floor. Really impressive free throw shooting as well, which is more than the difference in the final score.

That said after Hope "struggled" (or at least had a close, tight game) against Olivet who then lost to Alma today. And found itself in a very close game against Adrian at home I worry that Hope is playing with fire. The more close games you play the greater your chances of losing one become!

True, but also the better prepared for the post-season you become (assuming they don't lose too many and miss the post-season).

Very true. I just have one of those awful gnawing feelings that with these close games Hope is in for a stumble and since the Calvin game is just a week away I really don't want to see us stumble against Calvin (or anyone else really but especially Calvin).

[sac]

Ryan Klein came up big today with a new career high of 23, his 3 pointer following Ryan Gallus' 3 that gave Adrian its first lead was really huge.

VanderHeide 15, Wolfe 10 for Hope

Adrian  Young 18, Weber 13, Cardenas 12, Asher 10, Gallus 10.........Adrian mixed up their normal starting 5 today bringing Cardenas and Gallus off the bench.  Interesting move.

[hope1]

what a great game today  give credit to buck riley for slowing the tempo down a little bit  man i thought we were going to lose when we were down by 1 point 

[midline]

It has been a while since I've written a post. I hope to take some of the burden off of poor Stinger in the coming weeks. Not that I don't enjoy his "Me v. Dutch and Knight Nations" mentality....

I wish I had something better to mention than K's loss to TriState tonight. What an ugly game. The Hornets were out of synch the entire first half and most of the 2nd. Not sure how many TO's both teams had, but it must have been high. K only had Kellogg playing well. He was a horse down low. No one else could get it done, however. I felt bad for McCain who was trying to make things happen but nothing was going his way. He had 3 questionable fouls against him, the last fouled him out with over 8 in the game. He proceeded to toss the ball down court, earning a delay of game T to finish his night.

K had it to within 2 a few times throughout the 2nd half, but TriState, to their credit, executed much better down the stretch. The Thunder had well rounded contribution, I thought. TriState's big fella, cannot remember his name, played, well...kinda thuggish. He delivered two excessively hard fouls in the final few minutes of the game that were not called for. The last was against K's Jerome (all 5'9" of him).

Midline

[scottiedawg]

Good game going on at the Calvin Fieldhouse. 

[ziggy]

Good game going on at the Calvin Fieldhouse. 

If only I could get the internet broadcast...

Update: Dougie Fresh's voice magically starting coming through my speakers!

[hope1]

at half calvin   36  albion  34 

[sac]

Good game going on at the Calvin Fieldhouse. 

Largest lead by Albion 5 points, 3 times
Largest lead by Calvin 4 points, 2 times
tied 4 times

Mantel's tearing it up with 13, Albion should be wary holding Griffin to zero and still trailing.

[sac]

Have to give a big pat on the back to Alma's Mike Bowman who goes 6-6 from 3 in their 2 point win over Olivet.  Bowman was 2-5 on the season coming in I believe.

Alma was 15-31 as a team today from deep, came in shooting 29% from downtown.

[ziggy]

The first ten minutes of the second half did in the Knights.  Albion got rolling, Calvin couldn't score and it was an uphill fight from there.  Wednesday night in Kzoo becomes pretty important.

[MWKnight]

say it aint so

[sac]

The first ten minutes of the second half did in the Knights.  Albion got rolling, Calvin couldn't score and it was an uphill fight from there.  Wednesday night in Kzoo becomes pretty important.

15-2 run by the Britons, big runs are not something the Britons are typically known for.

[sac]

Pretty interesting day today around the ol' league.  One upset, one near upset, and winless gets their first W.  Thats a big win for Albion basketball in alot of ways, its been a tough couple of weeks for them.  They needed something good to happen.

Scores
Hope 74 Adrian 70
Albion 73 Calvin 68
Tri-State 64 Kalamazoo 51
Alma 65 Olivet 63

Standings

Hope 4-0
Calvin 3-1
Tri-State 3-1
Albion 2-2
Kalamazoo 2-2
Adrian 1-3
Alma 1-3
Olivet 0-4

[Civic Minded]

Tough day in the DeVos, shooting-wise, but nice to see them hold on and play through to the end.  No doubt this win will give them some good tools for down the road.  For those of us who don't enjoy a nailbiter (me!), this was almost too much excitement.          Kudos to Klein and VDH, and to DVS for hitting some key freethrows at the end.

Got to hear most of the Calvin game on the radio while driving in the blinding snow -- but missed Albion's big run in the 2nd half.  Would love to hear a recap from those who got to see it in person.  Sounded like Mantel had a pretty good game...

[Flying Dutch Fan]

A couple of wins today by teams with some stats that don't usually lead to wins:

#1 - Hope wins, despite shooting 10% less than Adrian, and Adrian actually had one more shot than Hope;

Hope 38.9% (21-54)
Adrian 49.1% (27-55)

I guess outscoring your opponent by 17 from the FT line can do that; 

Hope 28-36
Adrian 11-15

#2 - Alma wins a game despite shooting 0% from the FT line (granted it was only 0-4, but still).  Of course if you go 15-31 from 3, you can afford to miss your 4 free throws.