Calvin Men's Basketball Runs Past Randolph-Macon 72-59 to Advance to NCAA III Quarterfinals
-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
HARTFORD, Ct. – Calvin advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2005 and for the seventh time in program history with a convincing 72-59 victory over No. 4 Randolph-Macon College Friday night on the campus of Trinity College.
Calvin will face host Trinity College in the national quarterfinals Saturday night at 7:45 p.m. (EST).
Sophomore Jalen Overway (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) poured in 29 points including 18 in the first half to lead the Knights to the win. Calvin led 37-25 at halftime before the Yellow Jackets made a second half surge to close to within four at 50-46.
Calvin answered with eight unanswered points to lead 58-46 and kept RMC at bay the rest of the way.
The Yellow Jackets got within seven at 62-55 but a transition layup by Overway and a baseline dunk by sophomore Owen Varnado (Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian HS) gave Calvin a 66-55 lead with 2:59 left.
RMC closed to within seven at 66-59 on a three-pointer by senior Daniel Mbangue but Calvin answered with a clutch triple of its own as sophomore Luka Ressler (Caledonia, Mich./GR Catholic Central HS) drained a triple from the left wing with 1:44 remaining to put the Knights up 10. Ressler followed with three points inside the final minute to seal the win.
Randolph-Macon switched to a zone defense for portions of the first and second half but the Knights were able to find seams with quick passes and breaks to the basket.
Overway's 29 points came on 12 of 20 shooting to go with 12 rebounds as he notched his 16th double-double of the season including the 29th of his career. Senior Uchenna Egekeze had another outstanding night, scoring 15 points including nine in the first half while grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out six assists, collecting two steals and blocking one shot. Ressler had eight points while senior Marcus Bult had seven points and seven boards and junior Trip Riemersma (Zeeland, Mich./Zeeland East HS) seven points as well.
Randolph-Macon was led in scoring Mbangue who scored 16 points to go with six boards and three assists. Malcom Hodges had 12 points and Lance Johnson 11 points.
Randolph-Macon shot 40.3 percent from the field (25 of 62) but just 16.7 percent (3 of 18) from three-point range. RMC was 6 of 10 (.600) at the free throw line.
Calvin connected on 27 of 52 attempts from the floor for a 51.9 percent clip. The Knights were 14 of 18 at the free throw line (.800) and 4 of 19 (.211) from three-point range.
With his 29 points, Overway boosted his career total to 1,089 points, moving him past Jordan Daley and into 23rd place on the Calvin career scoring list.
Thunder Handle Bears in Sectional Semifinals
-- Story provided by Trine University Athletics --
ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's basketball team continued their NCAA Tournament run with a Sectional Semifinal victory over Washington University (WashU) out of St. Louis, Missouri and the University Athletic Association (UAA).
The #13 Thunder (26-4) will now face the #11 University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneers (26-4) in the Sectional Finals on Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. The winner of that contest will punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament Championship Semifinal weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The game will be a rematch from when Platteville competed at the MTI Center in late December. The Thunder came away with an 80-68 victory over the Pioneers in that game. Head Coach Brooks Miller gave a preview of what's to come tomorrow, "They're a well-coached team, a physical team with good shot makers and they have a mental advantage over us right now that we're going to have to overcome in the next game after coming out on top over them earlier this season."
Trine was led by Aidan Smylie and Cortez Garland, who combined for 45 points on the night. It is a new career-high for the junior Smylie with 23 points in total and he was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Thunder were red hot from beyond the arc. The end game total was 10-for-15 (66.7%) which is the most efficient shooting performance from three in program history.
"Good players make plays," Garland said during postgame media availability. "Today was just one of those days where we had to make plays and it ended up being from three."
The Bears (20-8) began the game with a pair of made field goals, but a three-point make by Emmanuel Megnanglo sparked a run of seven straight points for the home team. Cortez Garland buried a three as well during a total scoring spree of 16-2 to go up double figures. Three-point shooting by WashU kept them in it early at 18-14 at the under-12 media timeout.
Smylie and Fred Garland added on to the barrage from distance and a steal and slam by Smylie put the MTI Center into a frenzy at 28-21. As the seconds began to tick down in the first half, Drew Moore was true from deep to help extend the lead to ten at halftime, 38-28. The Thunder were an even 50.0% (16-for-32) from the field in the first 20 minutes and 6-of-8 (75.0%) from downtown.
Smylie had this to say postgame of the team's success from deep, "I think we did a good job of finding each other. A lot of our threes were wide open off a pass or late in the shot clock."
A 6-2 run in the first four minutes of the second half allowed Trine to continue right where they left off. Cortez Garland found his rhythm on offense and rattled off eight straight Thunder points himself to widen the gap to 52-36.
In the middle stages of the second half, it was the hot hand of Smylie that put the game out of reach. He would score seven points in less than one minute of court time just before the halfway points and bury a pair of three's to balloon the lead to 25 at 69-44 with seven minutes and change remaining. He would get a tip-in layup on a missed free throw as well to keep the Bears in check.
An and-one by Moore in the closing minutes of the game allowed for Trine to give the reserve players some time on the court in March. A group consisting of Cameron Awls, Ryan Preston, Jayce Cusack, Evan Lumbrezer and Logan McKenzie would seal the deal in an 86-65 winner.
Despite losing the rebound battle (38-31) and second chance points (21-8), the Thunder dominated on the fats break (20-2) and points off of WashU's 17 turnovers (24-9). The defense held the Bears in check to 36.9% (24-of-65) from the field.
