It was the first bit of fun that anyone related to Calvin basketball has had since halftime of the Hope game two weeks ago. Everyone (including me) needed to loosen up a bit. The Knights had dropped three of the previous four, and you could see the frustration building amongst the players and fans. Saturday was a break from all of that. It was senior day. It was 100 points. It was smiles from the players. It was smiles from the coaches.
It was fun, and that's what basketball is supposed to be.
Sure, it was "only Alma", but the Knights weren't interested in taking prisoners. They came out of the gate looking for the kill, and they never let up.
It was fitting that the first four Knights in double figures were Danny Rodts, Trent Salo, Brent Schuster, and Brad Schnyders, the Seniors. It was their last regular season game on the home floor, and they all had very nice games. The four seniors combined for 62 points on 21-31 shooting (11-15 on three pointers) in only 79 combined minutes.
I'll thank you four for your contributions to this program, but I'm going to do it after the season. There's five games left to win and then a national tournament. Go get it.
Stats
| Player | %Min | %Shots | eFG% | PPWS | FTr | Ar | TO% | Rb% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powell | 0.38 | 0.32 | 0.375 | 0.81 | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.09 | 0.00 |
| Salo | 0.53 | 0.17 | 1.083 | 2.17 | 0.00 | 0.21 | 0.25 | 0.05 |
| Rodts | 0.38 | 0.28 | 0.857 | 1.71 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.00 | 0.17 |
| Snikkers | 0.53 | 0.23 | 0.125 | 0.55 | 0.75 | 0.22 | 0.27 | 0.12 |
| Schuster | 0.58 | 0.26 | 0.900 | 1.84 | 0.30 | 0.07 | 0.08 | 0.15 |
| Brink | 0.50 | 0.15 | 1.200 | 2.32 | 0.80 | 0.07 | 0.22 | 0.20 |
| Rietema | 0.18 | 0.09 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.31 | 0.00 | 0.07 |
| Haverdink | 0.35 | 0.13 | 0.500 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.33 | 0.00 | 0.04 |
| Schnyders | 0.45 | 0.27 | 0.625 | 1.36 | 1.00 | 0.26 | 0.00 | 0.14 |
| Vallie | 0.10 | 0.15 | 1.000 | 1.65 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.29 | 0.13 |
| Kruis | 0.30 | 0.25 | 0.800 | 1.60 | 0.00 | 0.28 | 0.00 | 0.34 |
| DeBoer | 0.43 | 0.11 | 0.000 | 0.41 | 1.33 | 0.13 | 0.00 | 0.09 |
| DeYoung | 0.33 | 0.09 | 1.000 | 2.03 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.16 |
| Total | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.672 | 1.38 | 0.51 | 0.73 | 0.14 | 0.65 |
I've already mentioned that the seniors were phenomenal, but so were the freshmen. The Knights seemed to make a point of establishing a post presence with Tyler Kruis early in the game. Alma doesn't have the size that Calvin does, and they exploited that mismatch with Tyler a few times on the block. This bodes well for Calvin's future as Tyler hasn't shown much of a post game on the offensive end yet this year. It'll be important in the coming years.
Jordan Brink scored 16 points, all in the second half. I've been impressed with Brink's play as a freshman this year, but I think we're still only seeing the tip of the iceberg. When the starters exited the game, Jordan became the de facto scoring leader on the floor. He looked to take the ball to the rack, he looked for his shot, and it was a beautiful thing. I'm hoping this becomes the norm for the next three years. If so, he's going to have the entire campus outfitted in these...
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| My Air Jordans have a #12 on them. |
Also, the end of the bench for Calvin is pretty darn good. Again it was "only Alma," but the "last five" combination of Rietema, Fabiyi, Vallie, DeBoer, and DeYoung are much better than we usually see from those same bench spots. DeYoung and DeBoer are already included in the playing rotation, but I wouldn't too afraid if any of those other three guys were forced into playing time during "regular mintes."
Up Next
Road games at Trine (Wednesday) and Albion (Saturday). One win should be good enough to wrap up a top four spot, and a home game in the MIAA tournament, but two wins will guarantee second place.
