I nearly had a heart attack while watching this game. Not like a Calvin vs. Hope "I can't believe it's coming down to the last possession, AGAIN" heart attack, but more like your average, garden variety heart attack. Still pretty serious.
We saw the Knights jump out to a 26-10 lead before "it" happened. The dreaded stretch of the game where the Knights seem to mentally check out. This time "it" lasted 18 minutes while DePauw went on a 41-18 run to turn the 16 point deficit into a seven point lead.
That's when the hear murmurs began. It looked like this all important regional game was about to completely slip away.
But thankfully the Knights pulled themselves together to go on a run of their own. They would allow the Tigers only six more points (while scoring 31 of their own) to win the game by a comfortable margin.
Game Chart
| Player | %Min | %Shots | eFG% | PPWS | FTr | Ar | TO% | Rb% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powell | 0.58 | 0.26 | 0.875 | 1.75 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.00 | 0.05 |
| Brink | 0.58 | 0.16 | 1.100 | 2.18 | 0.40 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.08 |
| Rodts | 0.68 | 0.20 | 0.929 | 1.87 | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.00 | 0.22 |
| Snikkers | 0.78 | 0.22 | 0.333 | 1.09 | 0.89 | 0.11 | 0.19 | 0.04 |
| Schuster | 0.45 | 0.17 | 0.500 | 1.12 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.18 | 0.07 |
| Rietema | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Haverdink | 0.35 | 0.22 | 0.000 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.13 |
| Schnyders | 0.43 | 0.36 | 0.625 | 1.23 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.18 |
| Kruis | 0.43 | 0.18 | 0.250 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.25 | 0.14 |
| DeBoer | 0.33 | 0.17 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.23 | 0.50 | 0.09 |
| DeYoung | 0.40 | 0.05 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.67 | 0.07 |
That's some incredible scoring efficiency out of the starters (plus Brad Schnyders). I'm going to single out Jordan Brink here. He's having an incredible offensive year. He's not putting up gaudy point totals, but he's been an extremely efficient scorer. To date he's notched a 1.42 PPWS (point per weighted shot, a measure of individual offensive efficiency). No Calvin player (since at least 01-02) with a %MIN higher than even 0.05 has finished the year at or above 1.40. The best comparable I can come up with (in terms of scoring ability) is a senior Ricky Shilts (1.31 PPWS) that takes 1/3 fewer shots.
Of course, it remains to be seen how this will change when he's asked to become an even bigger part of the offense. I think he'll be able to handle it quite well.
On the whole, I liked the defensive effort tonight. They came out of the gate with intensity, but it appeared that they relaxed a bit and got sloppy after mounting the big lead. Too many wide open looks for DePauw's shooters for a while there. Overall, though, it was the best defensive game they've played since maybe the win over Cornerstone.
It's 1:00 AM and I'm going to bed very happy after the win. The Knights are now 2-0 in regional play, and even though their overall record leaves something to be desired, they're still very much alive for a potential NCAA tournament at-large bid, should it come to that.
Beat Hope week officially begins at sunrise.
