By Dave Buursma

Guest Writer

After spending two years at the top of West Michigan college basketball, the Calvin men's basketball team fell victim to a late surge by Cornerstone University to place second in the Fifth/Third Classic on Saturday night at the Van Andel Arena. Cornerstone (7-1), ranked second in the latest NAIA Division II national poll, used timely steals and clutch free throw shooting to complete a 90-84 come-from-behind victory over the Knights (4-1), who came into the game ranked ninth in NCAA Division III.

Saturday's contest was a re-match of the Old Kent Classic Title Tilt of a year ago in which the Knights came away with a 95-91 victory. On Saturday night, however, the Golden Eagles were able to cash in on crucial Calvin turnovers late in the game. Cornerstone's blanketing full-court press and junior guard Bryan Edwards proved to be too much for the Knights as Edwards came away with a number of key defensive steals in the final minutes to put the game out of reach.

In the opening minutes of the game it looked as though Calvin would be in for a long night as the Golden Eagles scorched the Van Andel Arena nets. Cornerstone, coming off of six straight wins and a record-breaking win over Grand Valley State on Friday, continued its torrid shooting pace as the Golden Eagles connected on their first five shots to explode to an early 13-2 lead. Calvin answered with a 20-8 run of its own over the next seven minutes to pull ahead 22-21 on a Rob Dykstra three-pointer.

With eight minutes to go, sophomore Kevin Broene nailed a three-pointer to give the Knights their largest lead of the half at 28-21. The Golden Eagles put the Knights back on their heels with a 10-2 run over the next two minutes to take the lead at 31-30. As the half came to a close, the Knights reclaimed the lead and headed into the locker room with a 46-41 advantage.

In the opening moments of the second half, Calvin jumped out to a comfortable seven-point lead at 50-43. Cornerstone used a Bryan Foltice three-pointer with 12:15 left to take the lead 58-57. The next five minutes provided five lead changes, with the Golden Eagles taking the lead for good with just under eight minutes left. Calvin cut the Cornerstone lead to one on a Jeremy Veenstra three-point play with 3:54 left, but the Knights failed to mount another comeback as the Golden Eagles used an 8-4 scoring run in the games final minute to secure the win.

The Knights shot 47.1 percent from the floor on 33-70 shooting while hitting just 21.4 percent from beyond the arc, including a frigid 14.3 percent in the second half.

Junior Jeremy Veenstra paced the Knights with a game-high 26 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. With the effort, Veenstra was able to claim 10th place on the all-time Calvin scoring list as he surpassed both Kim Campbell and Jim Timmer. In his first-ever varsity start, sophomore Kevin Broene poured in 15 points. Sophomore Chris Prins slashed his way to 14 points to go along with three steals.

Both Veenstra and Prins earned all-tournament honors along with Cornerstone's Bryan Edwards and Mark Zichterman. Edwards was named the tourney MVP as he gave flight to the Golden Eagles with 19 points and six steals.

These two teams will battle it out again Dec. 4 as the Knights travel to take on the Golden Eagles.

In the opening round of the Fifth/Third Classic, the Knights were able to turn away a revitalized Aquinas squad 79-75 after humiliating the Saints less than a week earlier in a 104-76 trouncing at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

The Knights were led by sophomore Chris Prins' career high 23-points to go with his nine rebounds. Calvin junior Jeremy Veenstra continued his bid for All-American status as he collected his 16th career double-double, chalking up 16 points and 12 boards. The Saints received a game high 25 points from sophomore K'brio Kimble in the losing effort.