Brian Haverdink Reflects on Last Regular Season Home Game At Van Noord Arena
Sunday, February 12, 2012
By Mark DeHaan
Playing in his final regular season home game as a Calvin College Knight, senior Brian Haverdink could not have asked for a better atmosphere than was present against Hope. Although the Knights could not dismantle the Dutch, Haverdink was grateful just the same.
“It was pretty special, I can’t really script it any better than that. The last home game is against Hope, got all the people out there watching, and that makes it a lot more fun,” said Haverdink. “Everyone loves playing in these games, and theres a little nostalgia when it’s the last home game of your senior year so you kind of think back to all the other games you’ve been playing in.”
Haverdink’s last regular season game in Van Noord Arena was marked with an 11-point, six-rebound performance by Calvin’s lone senior against the team ranked number one in the nation in Division III.
“You kind of approach it like you’re the underdog, even though in a rivalry you kind of throw records out the window,” said Haverdink. “They come in number one in the country, so there’s obviously a lot of attention, so that kind of ups the ante a little bit.”
In his three seasons as a varsity player, Haverdink says that getting to know his teammates has often been the most fun.
“It sounds cliché, but meeting all the guys and establishing friendships, I’d say thats the thing that I’m going to take with me the most. You take the games and stuff, which obviously are fun, and that’s kind of what everybody else sees, but the hours you put in with every other guy on the team – and the relationships you build – are probably the most special.”
With his career coming to a close, Haverdink found that the easiest thing to say was that his career has “always been a surprise. Every year you work hard, you see what happens, and you surprise yourself with the playing time you get or the role you have on the team,” said Haverdink. “To put it all into words is hard. It’s a great experience – I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.”
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Women’s Basketball Claims Share of MIAA Regular Season Title With 67-44 Win at Olivet
Saturday, February 11, 2012
(Photo by Sandy Palmatter)
OLIVET – Calvin clinched a share of the MIAA regular season title with a 67-44 victory at Olivet Saturday afternoon. Ranked fifth nationally, Calvin improves to 22-1 overall and to 14-1 in the MIAA. The Knights can claim an outright title with a win over Saint Mary’s next Wednesday. The league title is Calvin’s 13th overall in women’s basketball which leads all MIAA schools.
Calvin overcame early foul trouble to roll out to a 44-22 halftime lead against the Comets. Calvin then stretched its lead to as many as 35 points in the second half to help seal the win.
Calvin’s inside tandem of juniors Carissa Verkaik and Julia Hilbrands powered the Knights to the win as Verkaik had 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting while Hillbrands was 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the free throw line for 16 points.
Junior Ally Wolffis also contributed seven points.
“Olivet has been playing good basketball lately so we feel very positive about this win,” said Calvin women’s basketball coach John Ross. “We are happy about winning a share of the MIAA (regular season) title but we know we still have work to do. We’ve got a very challenging opponent coming up next Wednesday when we host Saint Mary’s so we’ll have to be prepared.”
Calvin’s game against Saint Mary’s next Wednesday is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.
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Hope Defeats Calvin 83-70 in 181st Meeting of The Rivalry
Story By Andrew Knot/Photo by Dan Vos
The Knights dropped an 83-70 loss to archrival and top-ranked Hope on Saturday, moving their record to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in conference.
The game was competitive in its early stages. Senior Brian Haverdink drilled a three from the top of the key to bring the score to 11-9 early. Sophomore Tyler Kruis followed that up on the defensive end with a baseline block of Hope’s Colton Overway. But Hope clawed back to take a marginal lead off an old-fashioned three point play from Nate Van Arendonk. But once again, Haverdink, playing in his final Calvin-Hope game, buried another three to put the Knights on top by two.
But Hope would mount a double-digit lead in not too long. After VanArendonk again converted three consecutive points to put the Dutchmen on top by 15. With less than four minutes to go in the half, Calvin found itself needing a spark.
That spark came in the form of 6’1” junior Bryan Powell. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the half, Powell intercepted pass from Hope’s Logan Neil and darted towards the basket. Nearing the hoop, Powell elevated over Neil for an electrifying, authoritative dunk. Powell’s fast break electrified the Calvin crowd, which had previously grown silent, and by halftime, the Knights had cut the deficit to eight.
The Dutchmen were able to stifle any remains of Calvin momentum after halftime. David Krombeen sank a triple three minutes into the half and Billy Seiler downed two threes in less than a minute. Soon, Hope’s lead was nineteen.
Calvin would respond at various points with runs. Kruis was efficient in the paint, scoring 11 second half points. But Hope’s defense was stifling, and Calvin couldn’t cut the lead to single digits.
“They did a good job of taking away our inside high-low game,” said Calvin Coach Kevin Vande Streek. “They forced us to take shots at the end of the shot clock.”
Kruis led the Knights in scoring with 17 points. He also contributed 6 rebounds. Powell was close behind with 16 points and junior Tom Snikkers led the way on the glass with 10 boards.
Hope was led in scoring by Nate Snuggerud with 25 points while David Krombeen had 20 points.
Calvin held a 43-29 rebounding advantage but the Knights shot just 36.9 percent from the floor while Hope connected on 52.8 percent of its attempts.
Calvin travels to Angola, IN to square off against Trine on Wednesday. Calvin is currently locked in a three-way tie for second place in the MIAA standings with Adrian and Trine as all three teams are 7-5 in league play. Albion is lurking close behind at 6-6 as four teams are vying for three available spots for the upcoming four-team league tournament. Hope has already clinched the top seed.
