MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[wiz]

11-1 Knights.

You're right. How could I forget Wednesday night? 

I Hope you will never forget that again.

In typical Calvin fashion, the Knights started the season slow and have worked to improve as the season moves on and we get closer to the tournaments.  Calvin has now won 13 of their last 14 games and today clinched at least a share of the MIAA crown.  Today's victory was especially sweet because they revenged their only league loss of the season at did it on Olivet's home court.

Go Knights!

[oldknight]

11-1 Knights.

You're right. How could I forget Wednesday night? 

I Hope you will never forget that again.

What a bonehead OK is. If I was David Mayo that might be an excuse but I don't even know the guy.

[wiz]

Didn't get to go the the game at Olivet today, but from listening on the radio it sounded like Calvin shot better on the road again than they have been at home.  I think 50% from the floor both in overall field goals and in 3 pointers.  Caleb really took charge again early on and had another nice game with 14 points in 29 minutes and lots of senior leadership coming through.  Also impressed with Zoerhof's production off the bench. 

[arena]

11-1 Knights.

You're right. How could I forget Wednesday night? 

I Hope you will never forget that again.

What a bonehead OK is. If I was David Mayo that might be an excuse but I don't even know the guy.

You know you're going to be accused of bringing the tone of the board down

[sac]

Hope 55 Alma 53

Alot of people will probably look at this and assume it was ugly or Hope played poorly etc. etc.  I'm not sure I agree with any of those assumptions.

This was a case of one team running its gameplan, stubbornly, and it nearly worked out for them.

Alma got off to a great start, I walked in late, I think it was 8-2 Alma and it was pretty obvious Alma came to play today.  It was 13-6 Alma when David Krombeen kind of tookover, not only did he score 13 straight points but he was  big on the defensive end as well.   For a few minutes at least he seemed like the only Dutchmen with any legs or energy........though thats probably not a fair statement.

Alma played a stall offense and even despite being down most of the game they stuck with it, you have to credit them for that, its not easy to do that.  And really not easy when the other team outscores you 24-9 the last 16 minutes of a half.   It was slow and boring but it was smart basketball by Alma today.  H 30 Alma 22 at the half.

Alma kind of hung around with Hope for most of the second half, defensively they did a nice job keeping Reimink from scoring, but they sent him and Hope to the line a number of times.   I think Hope found open shots difficult to find, but they were there,  unfortunately they missed most of them in the second half and on most of the close in shots, Alma just took the foul.

Hope could have saved itself alot of grief by just executing on offense the last quarter of the game.  I think I count 12 posessions in the last nine minutes of the game and only 1 resulted in a made basket, which is a complete 180 from what happened Wed.  They got a number of FT's and made them but there were at least 3 chances for 3 point plays where the ball just rolled out..........and another couple of posessions with really poor turnovers.

Cory Schneider's 3 to cut it to 1 with 2 second's to go was quite a circus shot....about 27 feet out that banked in.  David Krombeen missed the 2nd of 2 FT's, kind of a bummer because Hope was 20-20 up to that point at the line.  Somehow Alma rebounded and called timeout with only .3 coming off the clock.   Whoever commented on not guarding the inbounds pass forces a 5-4 situation will be happy to know this is exactly what Hope did.........and with just 1.6 to go, they forced a midcourt length pass that Jesse Reimink easily intercepted and ran out the time.  It would have been another lengthy miracle shot.......probably in the 30 foot range had the pass connected not unlike Bunn's attempt at VanNoord.

David Krombeen and Ty Tanis really stepped up from 3 today, Krombeen's were a case of Alma just playing off him too far and not respecting him as a scorer, his were completely uncontested, and he took full advantage.   Tanis' two threes were deadly accurate off curls I think and were only 2 of  3 FG's for Hope in the first 10+ minutes of the second half.  No three's from anyone else.

Krombeen 14, Reimink 12, Bunn 11

Reditt 17, Schneider 16

Two pretty short benches today, and I'm sure most of that was due to the pace of the game.  Not a lot of need to sub when 25 seconds come off the clock every minute without any action.  The FG attempts say it all I guess........Alma 47 Hope 41....as low as I can recall.

[sac]

Notes from Alma

***   Great crowd at Alma........513 and a surprising large Hope turnout.  The highlight is still the 'Superfans'.  They were a mass of 5 sometimes 6 today and were as usuall a riot.  They seemed a little short on energy today which can only mean last night was rough.........and I can only imagine what some of the frat parties are like with those guys attending.

***  This game wasn't all that different from the Alma/Albion game I saw, Hope just couldn't make shots when they needed them, Albion did.   I will say Alma was much more disciplined running their offense today than that day, Jordan Reditt was much better as well.

[Darryl Nester]

Calvin's win today clinched the regular season championship:

Team	Overall	Home	Away	Remaining Games
Calvin	11-1	5-1	6-0	vs. Albion, @ Kzoo
Hope	9-3	5-1	4-2	vs. Adrian, @ Trine
Albion	9-3	4-2	5-1	@ Calvin, vs. Alma
Adrian	5-7	3-4	2-3	@ Hope, @ Olivet
Olivet	5-7	1-5	4-2	@ Alma, vs. Adrian
Kalamazoo	4-8	2-4	2-4	@ Trine, vs. Calvin
Alma	3-9	2-4	1-5	vs. Olivet, @ Albion
Trine	2-10	1-4	1-6	vs. Kzoo, vs. Hope

Team	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8
Calvin	100.00%	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Albion	--	53.91%	46.09%	--	--	--	--	--
Hope	--	46.09%	53.91%	--	--	--	--	--
Olivet	--	--	--	58.01%	22.27%	10.35%	9.38%	--
Adrian	--	--	--	34.96%	42.97%	20.51%	1.56%	--
Kalamazoo	--	--	--	7.03%	30.08%	47.27%	12.50%	3.12%
Alma	--	--	--	--	4.69%	12.50%	60.16%	22.66%
Trine	--	--	--	--	--	9.38%	16.41%	74.22%

[arena]

Hope 55 Alma 53

Alot of people will probably look at this and assume it was ugly or Hope played poorly etc. etc.  I'm not sure I agree with any of those assumptions.

This was a case of one team running its gameplan, stubbornly, and it nearly worked out for them.

Alma got off to a great start, I walked in late, I think it was 8-2 Alma and it was pretty obvious Alma came to play today.  It was 13-6 Alma when David Krombeen kind of tookover, not only did he score 13 straight points but he was  big on the defensive end as well.   For a few minutes at least he seemed like the only Dutchmen with any legs or energy........though thats probably not a fair statement.

Alma played a stall offense and even despite being down most of the game they stuck with it, you have to credit them for that, its not easy to do that.  And really not easy when the other team outscores you 24-9 the last 16 minutes of a half.   It was slow and boring but it was smart basketball by Alma today.  H 30 Alma 22 at the half.

Alma kind of hung around with Hope for most of the second half, defensively they did a nice job keeping Reimink from scoring, but they sent him and Hope to the line a number of times.   I think Hope found open shots difficult to find, but they were there,  unfortunately they missed most of them in the second half and on most of the close in shots, Alma just took the foul.

Hope could have saved itself alot of grief by just executing on offense the last quarter of the game.  I think I count 12 posessions in the last nine minutes of the game and only 1 resulted in a made basket, which is a complete 180 from what happened Wed.  They got a number of FT's and made them but there were at least 3 chances for 3 point plays where the ball just rolled out..........and another couple of posessions with really poor turnovers.

Cory Schneider's 3 to cut it to 1 with 2 second's to go was quite a circus shot....about 27 feet out that banked in.  David Krombeen missed the 2nd of 2 FT's, kind of a bummer because Hope was 20-20 up to that point at the line.  Somehow Alma rebounded and called timeout with only .3 coming off the clock.   Whoever commented on not guarding the inbounds pass forces a 5-4 situation will be happy to know this is exactly what Hope did.........and with just 1.6 to go, they forced a midcourt length pass that Jesse Reimink easily intercepted and ran out the time.  It would have been another lengthy miracle shot.......probably in the 30 foot range had the pass connected not unlike Bunn's attempt at VanNoord.

David Krombeen and Ty Tanis really stepped up from 3 today, Krombeen's were a case of Alma just playing off him too far and not respecting him as a scorer, his were completely uncontested, and he took full advantage.   Tanis' two threes were deadly accurate off curls I think and were only 2 of  3 FG's for Hope in the first 10+ minutes of the second half.  No three's from anyone else.

Krombeen 14, Reimink 12, Bunn 11

Reditt 17, Schneider 16

Two pretty short benches today, and I'm sure most of that was due to the pace of the game.  Not a lot of need to sub when 25 seconds come off the clock every minute without any action.  The FG attempts say it all I guess........Alma 47 Hope 41....as low as I can recall.

sounds a bit how Alma played Calvin last game

[hope1]

sounds  like a pretty good hope win today it would be  to put some wins together to give them more confidence for next week

[realist]

Thanks, as always, for your report Sac.  The numbers that kept coming up on the stat board just didn't look right, but we all know Alma likes to let the air out of the ball.  Imagine what that game might have looked like without the 35 second shot clock.

[sac]

Updated standings through Sat.  w/remaining sched

Calvin 11-1    (+5)    albion, @kzoo
Hope 9-3     (+3)      adrian, @trine
Albion 9-3    (+3)      @calvin, alma
Olivet 5-7     (-1)       @alma, adrian
Adrian  5-7   (-2)        @hope, @olivet
Kzoo 4-8      (-2)        @trine, calvin
Alma 3-9      (-3)        olivet, @albion
Trine 2-10      (-3)      kzoo, hope

Wednesday, February 18
Adrian at Hope, 7:30 p.m.
Albion at Calvin, 7:30 p.m.
Kalamazoo at Trine, 8 p.m.
Olivet at Alma, 8 p.m.

***   Calvin clinched at least a share of the MIAA Championship today and the #1 seed in the MIAA tournament.  We can still get a tie but even if that happens Calvin holds any tie-breaker by beating Hope twice.

***   I don't even want to tackle all the tie-breakers for seeds,  I can offer ranges.

1.  Calvin
2 or 3.  Albion/Hope
4  Olivet/Adrian/Kzoo/Alma
5. Olivet/Adrian/Kzoo/Alma
6. Olivet/Adrian/Kzoo/Alma/Trine
7. Olivet/Adrian/Kzoo/Alma/Trine
8. Kzoo/Alma/Trine

***Games of the night Wed.........Albion/Calvin is for the MIAA outright Championship, but Kzoo/Trine  Olivet/Alma will do more to settle seedings.

[sac]

Next Saturday's  Hope at Trine game has been moved to a 7:30 start do to a conflict with the  Midwest Regionals wrestling tournment hosted by Trine.  The JV game has apparently been canceled.

[almcguirejr]

Hope 55 Alma 53

Alot of people will probably look at this and assume it was ugly or Hope played poorly etc. etc.  I'm not sure I agree with any of those assumptions.

This was a case of one team running its gameplan, stubbornly, and it nearly worked out for them.

Alma did the same to Calvin 10 days ago.  It was tied 27-27 at the half.  Calvin slowly pulled away in the second half to win by 11.  It was a 4 point game with 6:30 to go. Their coach gave them a chance to win.

[bulldogalum]

Adrian 80
Trine 69

This game really wasn't as close as the score would indicate.  Adrian came out of the game guns ablaze and Trine really didn't have much of an answer in the first half.  The Bulldogs shot 65% from the floor in the first half, and were 10 of 14 from three point range.  At half it was 50-31, and it was only that close because of a late run by Trine.

In the second half, things got very physical.  In my opinion, the officials let the game get out of control, and the result wasn't pretty.  The best illustration of this occurred about midway through the second half.  On a loose ball, Matt Wayne dove to the floor and grabbed the ball.  A Trine player came in and tried to tie the ball up.  Then, Glen Alfieri flew into the pile and attacked Matt Wayne.  Both teams on the floor converged, and Dwight VanHoesen tried to pull Alfieri off of Wayne.  One Trine player came in off the bench to try to assist his teammates in the struggle.  The officials gathered and called offsetting technical fouls on Alfieri and VanHoesen.  They got it half right.  Alfieri should have been out of the game for what he did--it was an act of thuggery and cowardice.  VanHoesen was trying to keep the situation from escalating further, and was penalized for it.

With the physical nature of the second half, the game was really ugly--some sort of mix between football, hockey and UFC.  Adrian's lead was in the mid double digits most of the second half, and climbed to more than 20 in the last few minutes before last minute threes by Trine made the score look closer than it was.

This is, in my estimation, the third straight good game played by the Bulldogs.  By the looks of it, they're coming on at the right time of the season.  Certainly, the game in Holland on Wednesday will be a great challenge, but there really aren't any easy games the rest of the way, so the Bulldogs better be ready for a battle every time they hit the floor.

[hope1]

sac  has been at  7.30  beofre the seasson started on the   trine and hope schedule it says the jv at  5.15