MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[knights2000]

Final

Calvin 84
Adrian 65

Desmond Young with 31, shooting 12-21 from the field including 7-9 from beyond the arc.

Calvin with a nice scoring balance, Veldhouse 20, Veltema 14, Meckes and Grffin 13, and Snoeyink with 10, all finished in double figures.

27-34 FTs for Calvin
4-6 FTs for Adrian

Adrian settled for the three, and never really drew any fouls.

[bulldogalum]

Sounds like the game was lost in the last few minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half.  Prior to that, it was a close game, but Calvin went on a mini-run to end the half up 13, and continued that run at the outset of the second half.  Adrian made a run at the end, and the score looks worse than it was due to late free throws.

Looks like Desmond Young had a great game, Cardenas seemed to have a nice first half, and Gallus had what looked to be a fine second half.  Too many turnovers for the Bulldogs (19), and not nearly enough trips to the free throw line (Calvin outshot the Bulldogs at the line 34-6, that at least raises an officiating question, but having missed the game, I can't be sure).

Good win for the Knights, good luck against the Dutchmen on Wednesday.  Adrian will look to rebound against Olivet at the Merillat Center.

[Oval]

MIAA scores
Monday Feb 5

Calvin 84, Adrian 65 Box
Hope 78, Albion 71 Box

[KnightSlappy]

Coach Riley was complaining about fouls all game but the calls seemed alright to me. Adrian earned most of their fouls with their uptempo defense.  They put a lot of pressure on the ball, which lead to many fouls.  Also a few of the foul shots were made after "the hay was in the barn"

[sac]

Hope 78 Albion 71

This one started as a pretty physical contest, both teams were allowed to play defense with their hands and this directly impacted the first half play.
Hope seemed to be able to fight through the tough D a little better than Albion and obviously hit their 3 point shots to gain the 12 point halftime lead.

Hope will be very disappointed with its 2nd half defensive effort giving up 51 points, but especially 2 stretches.  The first was right out of the gate with Albion scoring the first 8 points and just like that its a ball game again.  The second stretch was from 12:00 to 6:00 where Hope went 0-8 from the floor and 2-5 from the stripe giving up a 16-4 run after working so very hard for an 18 point lead.

In between Hope really turned up the pressure on the press, got a couple of back to back 3's from Reimink along with nice layup off a steal.  Brett Jager and Tim Partridge added 3's off the bench and Hope was suddenly ahead by 18.

After the second stretch of being outplayed, Ryan Klein stepped up and hit huge 3 at 5:43 to give Hope a comforting 64-53 lead.......it was especially nice because Ryan was probably the most frustrated player with the pressure Albion was placing on the ball handler, but he kept his head and really played a very solid 2nd half.

I don't particularly feel Hope played the last 5 poorly, but they didn't execute on a couple of posessions and Albion really played very hard over this stretch and were able to get some easy baskets, Hope's 2 breakout baskets pretty much nullified the chances of a miracle Albion victory.

Albion played about 10 times better than they did at DeVos and other than Jesse Reimink Hope really struggled from the floor as the game wore on.  Steve Cramer had a tough night but Zak Silas played very good on him all night.  You might think DVS struggled from 3 looking at the box but the truth is he didn't take one inside 25 feet tonight........he had some pretty wide eyes.  The one he made I swear was 27 feet.

Reimink 19, VanderHeide 16, Cramer 14, VanSolkema 10

Silas 20, Holmes 18, Mocini 11, Yancy 10

Bottom line tonight, Hope didn't shoot well, Albion had  alot to do with that, and a few less turnovers from Albion and they're probably in the game with a chance to win at the end, but Hope had a lot to do with that too.

[oldknight]

Bulldogalum's analysis is correct. Adrian got behind the 8 ball starting late in the first half and it continued the first few minutes of the second. The game would have been over much earlier except for a monster second half by Desmond Young who rained 3's the last 20 minutes, several of them from NBA range. A pretty impressive display by Desmond but he just didn't get much help. Gallus had 13 but he also commited 5 turnovers and no other Bulldog stepped up. Except for Calvin's inability to stop Young I thought the Knights' defense was very good forcing numerous turnovers. Calvin also owned the boards. If Adrian missed their first shot they didn't get a second opportunity very often.

Veltema's play off the bench was especially good for Calvin. In the first half he sandwiched a couple of 3's around a steal and a beautiful driving layup to the basket with a couple of Bulldogs nipping at his heals. Matt's going to be a very good player for the Knights. The funniest moment of the game came with 4 seconds left with Griffin dribbling out the clock. He passed the ball to the official who--instead of letting the ball go out of bounds, simply grabbed it and dribbled out the last 4 seconds himself as he and the few remaining fans had a hearty laugh.

[sac]

thoughts

-----Nice Hope contingent at the game tonight, more than I thought would make the game.  Atmosphere was about what you'd expect on a Monday night, clearly this was an advantage for Hope, play like that in the usually tougher Kresge environment and this games probably a loss.

-----Albion's improvement from game 1 to game 2 was on the defensive end, they were poor in Holland, very good tonight.  Also I think Albion is playing its better players more often and seemed to be more settled at gaurd.  Although they did have a number of very bad passes into the crowd tonight.  Also doesn't hurt them that Zak Silas has his 'A' game back.  I thought he outplayed Steve Cramer.


-----Marcus VanderHeide should be applauded for his cheerleading effort tonight, I thought he did a nice job getting Hope to turn the pressure up a notch at the right time in the second half, quietly he had a nice game, the shots just didn't fall.

-----I'm flumaxed by the subbing pattern, Hope's 2nd group didn't get enough minutes in my opinoin.  Those guys play better as they get momentum.  The shifts have gotten too long...........just my humble opinion.


-----Wednesday will be fun!    Civic Minded remember the lollipop, and I'll remember the gum!

[oldknight]

-----Wednesday will be fun!    Civic Minded remember the lollipop, and I'll remember the gum!

What about that Hudsonville Ice Cream you still owe OldKnight?

[sac]

New d3Hoops poll is out: Hope men up to 6th, between the two W's.

Interesting.............higher than I'd like to see, I still think half the CCIW is probably a little better.   I've also told  a couple Woo posters that I'd take the home team in a Hope v Woo or Witt game.

Maybe the word got out?

-----Wednesday will be fun!    Civic Minded remember the lollipop, and I'll remember the gum!

What about that Hudsonville Ice Cream you still owe OldKnight?

Its cold enough that its in the mail

[GoKnights68]

Coach Riley was complaining about fouls all game but the calls seemed alright to me. Adrian earned most of their fouls with their uptempo defense.  They put a lot of pressure on the ball, which lead to many fouls.  Also a few of the foul shots were made after "the hay was in the barn"

Last year I wasn't near the scorestable in the middle and heard Riley say soemthing about a conspiracy with the refs.  Hmmmmm.

Anyways, as a Calvin fan, I just hope the game Wednesday is close.  3 out of the last 4 REGULAR SEASON games at Hope have been blowouts in favor of Hope, with the exception being in 2005, in which Calvin still lost(by 3?). Play hard and play smart, Knights!

[KnightSlappy]

It was good to see Snoeyink have a good game tonight.  10 points and 7 boards in 18 minutes.  He played strong on both ends and wasn't afraid to muscle it toward the basket.  The Knights need both he and Mantel to play well against Hope to take some pressure off of their guards.

[Stinger]

I snuck in the back door at Kresge to catch the game last night.   SAC's observations were, as usual, right on. It was interesting to see the shift in calls from the first half and the second. Joppe and the boys let a ton of clutching going on, which I thought was to Albion's advantage. To begin the second half, Albion had 7 fouls at the 14:45 mark I think. Total change.

Albion really had a chance to get this one close. They couldn't get over the 6-8 pt hump.  Everytime they'd make a run, Hope came up with a big 3.  Albion did a decent job extending the game during a wild final 2 minutes. 

This was the first time I have seen Hope play this year.   It is strange not seeing a big man in the middle for the Dutch.   VanSolkema seems adequate, but not stellar. The guy shoots from his thigh, like he's in the 4th grade.  But if you're at 49% from behind the arc,  then what the hell.  I do think they will have problems if they go cold from 3pt range.  Their offense seemed to just reverse the ball, reverse the ball, shoot the 3.   

Anywho.... good fun MIAA game last night.  Not nearly the atmosphere of Alb/Hpe games of the past 3-4 years, but understandably so.

[almcguirejr]

This was the first time I have seen Hope play this year.   It is strange not seeing a big man in the middle for the Dutch.   VanSolkema seems adequate, but not stellar. The guy shoots from his thigh, like he's in the 4th grade.  But if you're at 49% from behind the arc,  then what the hell.  I do think they will have problems if they go cold from 3pt range.  Their offense seemed to just reverse the ball, reverse the ball, shoot the 3.   

I think you are right on.  If you have a quick guard who can stay right up on DVS you can
take away his 3pt shot because of how he shoots the ball.  Calvin has given him too much room in the 2 games played this year.  I don't know if Calvin possesses the type of defender who can stay with him for 40 minutes. 

[Carl Yastrzemski]

I caught Coach Turner's post game press conference on www.youtube.com this morning. He had some great remarks about the game, although he got fired up at the end when the sports writer for the Pleaid (Albion's school paper) asked how Coach Turner felt about now having to make the trip out west for the Conference Tournament. Coach T responded with "They are who we thought they are, and tonight we let them off the hook. If you want to crown them, then crown their a**."

I can see that as the next Coors Light commercial.

SAC funny you should mention the word miracle in your post about the game last night. I spoke with Albion's asst. Coach May this morning on the phone and he said they have asked Mike Eruzione to come speak to the team before the MIAA tournament begins and have also asked him to travel with the team and sit on the bench as an honorary asst coach with one stipulation. He does not weark a Navy Blazer with Khaki pants.

I saw some posts earlier about a kid commiting to USC for football. Did anyone else see the other verbal commitment USC received the other day. They are getting a Running Back out of San Francisco City College. He doesn't use his real name instead he uses his initials. He has a "slashing" running style. Look for "The Juice" to win a heisman during one of his two seasons at USC.

[almcguirejr]

thoughts

-----I'm flumaxed by the subbing pattern, Hope's 2nd group didn't get enough minutes in my opinoin.  Those guys play better as they get momentum.  The shifts have gotten too long...........just my humble opinion.

I looked at the number minutes played last night.  Reimink 29,  MVH 31, Cramer 32, DVS 33.  I would have thought GVW would make sure that he limited minutes last night with a game on wednesday.  When things are tight GVW shortens his bench and gets much more animated with the officials.