-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
2022 NCAA III Tournament Men's Basketball Bracket
PLATTEVILLE, Wisc. - Calvin men's basketball moved onto the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA III Tournament for the first time since 2014 with a 76-64 upset win at No. 5 Wisconsin-Platteville Saturday night.
Calvin advances to face Elmhurst University next Friday at on the campus of Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. Calvin will part of a four-team NCAA III Sectional Tournament field that will include Case Western Reserve and Mary Hardin-Baylor. Calvin will face Elmhurst at 5 p.m. Friday night.
Calvin (22-8) will be making its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2014 and its ninth in program history.
On Saturday night, Calvin and UW-Platteville (22-6) struggled to get points on the board in the first five minutes, as they Knights had a slight advantage of 7-4 after 3-pointer by Luke Morrison (Bristol, IN / Northridge).
Calvin was starting to pick up some momentum as it extended its lead to 18-11 after a 3-pointer by senior Emmett Warners (Grand Rapids, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) The Knights were catching fire later in the first half as they rattled off a 9-4 run to take a 27-15 lead after a 3-pointer by Morrison.
The Pioneers began to get into a rhythm as the they made it a six-point game with a score of 33-27 with 57 seconds left in the half. Calvin scored five more points before the end of the half including a 3-pointer by senior Jordan Katje (Kalamazoo, MI / Kalamazoo Christian) at the buzzer to give them a 38-27 at halftime. The triple was the first of Katje's collegiate career.
Morrison led all Knights in scoring at the halftime break with 18 points followed by Thad Shymanski (Ada, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) with 9 points as well. Calvin shot 14-26 from the field (53.8%) and 7-14 (50%) from the three-point line in the first half of play.
The Knights continued to hold a steady lead over the Pioneers and after five minutes of play, Calvin led 43-36 after a driving layup by Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, IL / Huntley). Morrison was scorching in the second half as he made another 3-pointer to make it 52-38 with 11:01 left in the game.
The Pioneers struggled to score as the Knights' defense held them off late in the second half. Calvin was in control with 5:33 left in the game as Morrison made three free throws to extend the lead to 62-45. A clutch 3-pointer by Alec Fruin (Beloit, WI / Turner) with 3:29 left in the game help get the Knights get closer to the win.
Wis.-Platteville sliced the Calvin deficit down to eight at 70-62 with a minute left to play but Knights made their free throws down the final stretch to seal the win.
Morrison finished with a career-high 37 points to go with 9 rebounds and 3 assists followed by Shymanski with 17 points. Calvin shot 24-44 (54.5%) from the field and 12-21 (57.1%) from the three-point line. The Knights outrebounded the Pioneers 37-30 on the glass and finished with 13 total assists.
COACHES COMMENTS: "I thought tonight we did a tremendous job defensively all day long," said head coach Bill Sall. "They got a lot of weapons and I thought we did a really good job of making sure their shooters were contained most of the night. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the way we defended for forty minutes. A couple things we could have cleaned up in the end, but super happy with our performance and the performance for our guys to get this win."
KNIGHT NOTES: Morrison's 37-point performance marked the fourth time he has hit 30 or more points this season….Calvin is now 4-0 against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opponents in the NCAA III Tournament, having defeated UW-Eau Claire (2000), UW-Lacrosse (2006), UW-Steven Points (2013) and UW-Platteville (2022)…..Calvin is now 36-23 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play….Fruin (Beloit, Wisconsin) and senior Jack Cahalane (Hartland, Wisc.) picked up wins in their home state…With his 17 points, Shymanski moved past 2010 Calvin graduate John Mantel and into 15th place on the Calvin career scoring list, boosting his career scoring total to 1,267 points.
