MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[arena]

Calvin won a game today that they probably shouldn't have.  Still can't believe they came back from 14 down. 

[Knight In The Stan]

Calvin won a game today that they probably shouldn't have.  Still can't believe they came back from 14 down. 

Agreed...one good statistic however, only 9 turnovers. Its been a while since I have seen a number in that column under 10.

[arena]

Calvin won a game today that they probably shouldn't have.  Still can't believe they came back from 14 down. 

Agreed...one good statistic however, only 9 turnovers. Its been a while since I have seen a number in that column under 10.

Only 9??? I have a hard time believing that. Seemed like a lot more.

[wiz]

Nice win for Calvin tonight and a great game plan.  The Knights lulled the Comets itno complacency and then when they thought they had it in the bag, Calvin stuck the dagger in and finished it off.

Seriously, Powell brought a lot of energy to a team that was down by 14 and helped bring them within in two before taking a well deserved rest.  Some good free throws down the line, sealed the deal.

For the history books, the poorest officiated game in the history of DIII hoops and the best pick in the history of DIII.  Everyone in the arena saw it develop except for Andre Evans who will never remember it because he went out for the count.  His time on the bench at a critical juncture in the game, while he was counting butterflies, didn't help Olivet.  Evans is the quickest player in the league and was sorely missed.

Don't expect Calvin to shoot 18.5% from 3 pt range again any time soon.

[arena]

Nice win for Calvin tonight and a great game plan.  The Knights lulled the Comets itno complacency and then when they thought they had it in the bag, Calvin stuck the dagger in and finished it off.

Seriously, Powell brought a lot of energy to a team that was down by 14 and helped bring them within in two before taking a well deserved rest.  Some good free throws down the line, sealed the deal.

For the history books, the poorest officiated game in the history of DIII hoops and the best pick in the history of DIII.  Everyone in the arena saw it develop except for Andre Evans who will never remember it because he went out for the count.  His time on the bench at a critical juncture in the game, while he was counting butterflies, didn't help Olivet.  Evans is the quickest player in the league and was sorely missed.

Don't expect Calvin to shoot 18.5% from 3 pt range again any time soon.

You're right about the officiating of the game.  I couldn't help but think to myself as i was watching the refs that they actually thought they called a good game.  They couldn't be more wrong.

[Knight In The Stan]

Calvin won a game today that they probably shouldn't have.  Still can't believe they came back from 14 down.  

Agreed...one good statistic however, only 9 turnovers. Its been a while since I have seen a number in that column under 10.

I suppose it is "unofficial" but yes, 9 TO's and 7 steals.

[Intangir]

Calvin won a game today that they probably shouldn't have.  Still can't believe they came back from 14 down. 

Seems like a common story this season for them, they certainly haven't had many easy wins and have come back from a big defecit quite a few times if I remember right.  It speaks well of them to be able to battle back but not very well in that they seem to have trouble starting off with any energy.

Calvin was shooting bricks for probably a good 2/3 of the game, there were long stretches they just didn't score at all, including the first 4.5 minutes of the 2nd half.  Clutch free throw shooting by just about the whole team though, lots of 2 for 2 FT attempts at key points in the game, especially near the end.  

[KnightSlappy]

Veltema gets the 1,000 mark.

Congrats to the Comets on a nice season. They have a very competitive team with some really nice players. They fought tooth and nail tonight and nearly ran Calvin out of their own gym on several occasions. Equal props to the Knights for not giving up and clawing back in.

As for the officiating:    Never helps when two of the guys are late and Ray Kelser and that other guy have to officiate the first 4 minutes or so of the second game. I was just one of those games where the calls didn't really favor either team... it was just bad all around.

I kinda felt bad for Evans when he ran into John's screen. He went down hard and never even knew John was there. Just one of those screens set well in advance and Trent (I believe) used it brilliantly... Andre just never saw him. To make matters worse, this came just moments after he was on the floor for getting hit in the bathing suit area (at least that's how it looked to me, maybe got the wind knocked out or landed on an ankle funny.)

Looks like the Knights won the rebounding battle, but lost the FG% battle.

[Intangir]

I kinda felt bad for Evans when he ran into John's screen. He went down hard and never even knew John was there. Just one of those screens set well in advance and Trent (I believe) used it brilliantly... Andre just never saw him. To make matters worse, this came just moments after he was on the floor for getting hit in the bathing suit area (at least that's how it looked to me, maybe got the wind knocked out or landed on an ankle funny.)

Yeah, that was just brutal.  I think both times he actually fell hard on his tail-bone.  Good to see that he was back in a few minutes later though.

[almcguirejr]

As for the officiating:    Never helps when two of the guys are late and Ray Kelser and that other guy

That other guy was Merlin Nice.  He was Wabash's National Championship team in 1982.  That championship game was played at Calvin.

Wiz is right about Powell changing the momentum when he came in.  Calvin scored 7pts immediately.  Powell had 5 of those and he had an assist on the other 2.  

Schnyders did a nice job tonight.  He gave Calvin  a lift when he was on the floor.  

Matt Veltema was very good in the second half.  3 huge shots from the baseline and fouled on a fourth.  He also did a nice job rebounding.  

Calvin also did a great job on McClary.  He had a stretch at the start of the 2nd half but for the most part they limited him.

Salo a big 3 to put Calvin up 4 at the 2 minute mark and 2 freethrows with 16 seconds to go put Calvin up 4 again.

It was also great seeing Carrie Snikkers  wearing a maroon Calvin Knights T shirt.

[KnightSlappy]

It was also great seeing Carrie Snikkers  wearing a maroon Calvin Knights T shirt.

Think she'll wear one tomorrow afternoon? 

[almcguirejr]

Olivet had 1 field goal the last 9:28 of the game.  Calvin outscored them 23-8 during that time span.

[Mr. Ypsi]

It was also great seeing Carrie Snikkers  wearing a maroon Calvin Knights T shirt.

Think she'll wear one tomorrow afternoon? 

Women's game - dream on.

Men;s game - we'll see.

[sac]

Olivet's lack of depth hurt them down the stretch......not much subbing that I can recall the entire 2nd half and by the 4 min to go mark they looked gassed.

Haven't seen anyone give credit to Calvin's defense in the final 5 min, Olivet could really only find tough jumpers and I don't think they had any of the easier layups they got in the first half.


....and Calvin's game plan of doubling McClary every touch kept him off-balance all night.  Thats as uncomfortable shooting the ball as I've seen McClary in the 3 games I saw him this year.

Very entertaining game of runs from both teams, I enjoyed it.

[sac]

The Adrian/Hope game was also pretty entertaining, a real drawn out slugfest.

The 2nd chance points must have been wildly in Adrian's favor......15 offensive rebounds is a great effort from an undersized team for the most part.  That really kept the Bulldogs close for much of the game.


Mark White is a terrific coach......I've heard many great things about him since he was hired and tonight was the first time I've had the chance to see Adrian in action.  Every time Hope would get a lead of 6 or 8, White called a TO and immediately Adrian would get a couple scores and they were right back in the game.  Every time Hope trapped, there was always an outlet and the Bulldogs were seemingly very composed and comfortable running the clock and consistently probing the defense for openings and breakdowns.   Best coached and disciplined team from that side of the state in a long time.

With that said Hope was able to be pretty efficient on offense, and this allowed them to control the game with the lead instead of chasing points all night like they did down at Adrian.........a slower pace is just fine if you have the lead.

Hope's use of the full court pressure was curious to me, and I wondered why they would continue it vs a team that was just going to run clock anyway.....the Bulldogs rarely if ever put up a shot with more than 15 or 20 on the clock.  However looking back, Hope forced at least a couple turnovers and a couple easy steals and layups along with a 10 second violation........just enough to maybe give them an overall score cushion needed at the end.

Also Hope threw a couple different defensive looks at Adrian in the final 8 minutes or so that resulted in immediate turnovers....I thought Hope's use of different D's kept Adrian off-balance a little and maybe was enough to keep them from making a damaging run to seize control of the game.


Individually I thought David Krombeen was outstanding tonight.......4 assts, 4 steals(including the big one with a minute left) and zero turnovers.  Teams are doing a really nice job keeping Peter Bunn from getting  alot of open looks...yet he still ends up with 19 after being held scoreless the first 10 mins.  I don't know how he does it.

Can't finish without mentioning Hope's bench who produced 16 points after only 3 total the last 2 games.  The bench has been somewhat shaky at times this year and other times very productive, tonight they were productive and Hope needed that.



All in all I was entertained, a good semi-final night in the 19th MIAA tournament.


PS   attendance was terrible for the Hope game, the 1723 has to be lowest since the semi-finals were at Albion but that was a full house of 1500.  There weren't anywhere near 1723 at tipoff or even 1,000.  I'm guessing the total attendance for the 2 games was pretty close to the lowest for any of the semi-finals held at Hope or Calvin.  I know the weather was bad, but it wasn't that bad.