MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

I saw both games and in the opener Cornerstone simply had their way with Hope, combining superior size, strength, and athleticism to win in a rout. Jason Beckman was heroic in a 27 point defeat, but he simply had no help. Having Dante Hawkins wouldn't have helped because the biggest difference between the two teams was inside, not the perimeter play. I had to do a double take, then a triple take, checking out Hope's roster. I hardly know any of the Flying Dutchmen players this season.

On the personal side, I was pleased to see the son of my wife's cousin get into the game the final five minutes, hitting a corner three pointer for the Golden Eagles. It's fortunate the inestimable Mrs. Oldknight wasn't at the game to see the official gyp her relative by calling the young man for a foul when he cleanly stripped the ball from Luke Dreyer. Wouldn't want to see Mrs. Oldknight take out her holy and righteous wrath on a poor official. That would be ugly.

As for the Calvin/Aquinas game, it was a bit of a downer to see Calvin lead almost the entire game, then lose it the final five minutes. A miserable performance from the stripe (5-13) contributed mightily to the loss, as did committing 11 more turnovers than their opponents. After doing a good job contesting the Saints' inside game for most of the night, the Knight's interior defense seemed to sag a bit down the stretch, and to me that was the difference maker. I'm thinking that superior size and strength by the home team probably wore down Calvin defenders. It doesn't get any easier tomorrow as Cornerstone is every bit as big and strong as Aquinas, and the Golden Eagles sport a better perimeter game than tonight's opponent. Other game notes:

--Despite the loss, there certainly are positives for Calvin, not the least of which is frosh, Luke Morrison who nearly had a double-double with 29 points and 9 rebounds. I'm confident the Aquinas team got a half time tongue lashing as Luke torched Saints' defenders for 22 the opening 20 minutes. The young Hoosier found the going tougher after the break but he still added 7 more. He may lead his team in scoring this year.

--While Aquinas is stronger and more athletic than Calvin, the Knights outrebounded the Saints 40-30.

--Calvin players play pretty unruffled, don't seem to get down, and compete very hard.

--Michael Wilks really struggled and he wasn't particularly effective tonight. The gritty and physical nature of play didn't suit his game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Having Dante Hawkins wouldn't have helped because the biggest difference between the two teams was inside, not the perimeter play.

So, I only saw five minutes of Dante Hawkins, but, when he was out, the biggest difference I noticed was on the interior.  It seemed to me that without him, they didn't have anyone capable of penetrating with the speed and vision to get the post players the ball in good spots.  I'm not saying he would've made a difference, but I think he does, in fact, help the post production from the PG spot.

[sac]

Cornerstone's inside duo of VerSluis and Steigenga were playing their 9th game of their Junior and Senior seasons (over 100 career games for Steigenga), Hope's various low post combinations were Dennis Towns in his 2nd year of varsity ball and a combination of guys who are either Freshmen playing their 3rd college game or guys who had fewer career minutes than the Cornerstone duo have played this year alone.   

Dante wasn't going to help this result a lot.  Cornerstone's a much better team than Hope right now we all knew this going in.

[oldknight]

Calvin forced to endure an 88-59 beatdown from Cornerstone tonight. The first half the Knights certainly were not defeated physically but they missed their first six shots and suffered poor shooting throughout the opening 20 minutes. Still, Calvin was within six until the Golden Eagles closed out the half on a 11-4 run to take a 38-25 lead at the break. The second half was an entirely different matter as Cornerstone came out shooting from the arc early and often, making several in a row, and the game got out of hand quickly. Steigenga made 5-7 from the arc and as good as he is inside, if he's hitting from the perimeter as well, he's pretty much unguardable. A 6-26 performance from the arc (vs 12-24) made the game a long one for Calvin. Other game notes:

--Michael Wilks pretty has much disappeared from Calvin's offense. An eight point weekend on 3-11 shooting and four rebounds. They need more from him.

--A return to earth for Luke Morrison who was held to 6 points. Yet the young man showed some grit (6 boards and 2 steals) and he didn't force too much. Nice to see frustration didn't boil over. His older brother struggled more (0-5 from the floor).

[sac]

Cornerstone's kinda good guys.


Hope 89  Aquinas  83

J. Beckman 44,  Lewis 14

44 points for Beckman ties for 4th most in Hope basketball history with Floyd Brady.


I think Hope's won the two they had a chance to win and lost to the two opponents they're simply over matched against at this point in the year.

[sac]

John Carrol  126  Olivet 105

Jalen Adams had 40 for the Comets.

[HOPEful]

I think Hope's won the two they had a chance to win and lost to the two opponents they're simply over matched against at this point in the year.

Completely agree. I would put money on Cornerstone beating Whitman if the two were to play. The Marietta loss is a little more disconcerting, not that they lost, but the manner in which they were manhandled. A lot of youth and a lot of season left... so far, I'm encouraged.   

[pointlem]

OldKnight, if you saw just one of the Hope games this weekend, you picked the wrong one. Last night Hope fans were treated to a DIII version of the Steph Curry phenomenon, as Jason Beckman made one unassisted basket after another (often with the shot clock winding down). . . 40 minutes, 44 points (14 of 20 shooting + 13 net-only free throws) . . .  and, despite all those spins into the lane, zero turnovers. Watching that performance was like watching athleticism combined with ballet.

It was enabled by an offense that, am I understanding it right?, rotates all five players around the outside (recognizing that there's no Harrison Blackledge inside this year) to open up the lane for the guards . . . which perhaps helps explain Hope's meagre 7 offensive rebounds this weekend, to its opponents' 31.

And speaking of guards, Riley Lewis is also emerging as another offensive weapon, with 51 points in the last three games (if the box score was right and he had 17 last night, rather than 14 as the scoreboard said) . . . not to mention last evenings' six assists with zero turnovers.

If Dante can eventually return and to his last season form, and if the young post players develop, this could be an exciting team to watch.

[Riley056]

John Carroll 80 Kalamazoo 45 with 13 mins left <-------------

[KnightSlappy]

--Michael Wilks pretty has much disappeared from Calvin's offense. An eight point weekend on 3-11 shooting and four rebounds. They need more from him.

I'm really not sure what's going on with him. Is he hurt? He's averaging only 18 minutes a game (7th on the team) and hasn't shown his usually excellent touch on the basketball.

[TUAngola]

Baldwin Wallace 68 - Trine 59

Gutsy comeback by Trine falls short tonight.  BW jumps out to a huge lead, I think it got to 20-3 at one point, where the Jackets hit everything in sight the first 5+ minutes getting open look after open look, and all of our shots were contested.  BW defense was very good however, very physical talented team.  I thought we did a great job fighting back in the 2nd half, but just couldn't hit the big shot to quite get over the hump.  Took too many wild 3's in the last part of the game when a look inside to Copeland or Hunter would have been the better play.  Thought our intensity was better tonight, ball handling was much better, and we rebounded pretty well.  Went deeper in to the bench trying to find a combination that worked.  Our offense so far revolves around Pete Smith and Myles Copeland.  I thought Mo Hunter did a decent job in the 2nd half, he's a good rebounder.  We've got to find some shooters though, man are we bad behind the arc.  Great fight in our team tonight, could have packed it in the 1st half but kept battling.   

[sac]

wots is that Hope's Dante Hawkins will be back sooner rather than later.  Maybe even next Tuesday?

[HOPEful]

wots is that Hope's Dante Hawkins will be back sooner rather than later.  Maybe even next Tuesday?

Great news! Would be nice if he could ease in/knock some of the rust off before the team heads to Wisconsin.

[sac]

Elmhurst 81  Olivet 71

Pretty good one down in the OC tonight.   The Comets were missing Aaron Washington which may or may not have made a difference.  Elmhurst felt like the more aggressive team right off the opening tip and had more to offer offensively than Olivet.    Close game all the way but one that felt like Olivet had a handle on except they were having a poor night from behind the arc and consequently Elmhurst led and was closer than they probably should have been.   Tie game at 71 with 4 minutes to play and to put it lightly the Comets were terrible down the stretch with 5 consecutive really, really bad possessions and unable to get much of a defensive stop at the other end. 

In general Olivet's big guys(and also lack of bigs depth) really got outworked in this game with starter Sirafino Davis seeing only 15 minutes mostly because he thought his man was air,  Blake Siersma got the rest of those minutes and was ok.  Elmhurst had numerous deep penetration drives by guards and cuts to the basket by their bigs, Olivet never figured it out.  It was imho at the 3-point line where Elmhurst both flourished and survived.  Flourished early building a decent lead and then fending off Olivet with a couple  timely ones late in the game.  On a night Olivet had little to offer from deep it probably made the difference in the game.


Olivet:  Adams 28, Edmond 16
Elmhurst:    Gardner 18, Patton 16, Rhode 14, Ireland 14


FWIW  Elmhurst was picked to finish 8th out of 9 in the CCIW, they now hold a convincing win over Alma and this win over Olivet.  That's probably not great.


I don't know if any MIAA's were recruiting Elmhurst's So. Ryan Patton out of Rochester Christian but he could probably step right into a number of MIAA starting 5's.

[HOPEful]

wots is that Hope's Dante Hawkins will be back sooner rather than later.  Maybe even next Tuesday?

My wife ran into Dante on campus and asked him about his hand. He said his x-ray showed no break, he's practicing this week with no contact, and he is expecting to play Tuesday against Grace Bible.