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Comets burn out on Wednesday night
by Ryan Jones
Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO
Tony Westhouse powers in a two-handed dunk early in the second half on Wednesday night.
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The Olivet College Comets brought the MIAA’s second-highest scoring offense into the Calvin College field house on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, they also brought the second-worst defense in the MIAA as well. The Comets put up a misleadingly impressive 89 points, but over half were scored against a mainly second-string Calvin defense. Meanwhile, the Calvin offense went to town, racking up a mind-boggling 111 points. At times they gave the Comets an uncanny resemblance to their namesake: a big vaporous ball of gas.
The 111-89 final score did not even seem to do this game justice. A second-half squad composed of almost all bench players put up more than half of Calvin’s points. Jeremy Veenstra, the Knights’ leading scorer, saw limited action but made the most of it, pouring in 10 points despite uncharacteristically timid play. Junior Chris Prins led the Knights with 18 points and five others finished in double digits. One bright spot for the Comets was the play of freshman De’Andre Pruitt. He lit up the Calvin defense from beyond the arc, hitting six of nine three-point attempts including an electrifying run of four straight trays early in the first half, putting the Knights back on their heels and giving Olivet their only lead of the game. Senior forward Michael Dyson also put in a solid effort, scoring 15 points for the Comets.
Play started out extremely sloppy on both ends, Calvin committing numerous turnovers in the paint and Olivet being unable to finish anything inside, getting zero of their first five shots. The loose balls went Calvin’s way, as they jumped out to an early 11-3 lead. However, they failed to pull down anything resembling a rebound on the defensive end and the Comets staged a comeback relying mainly on second and third chances. Olivet plays a very fast and flashy style and the Knights tried to follow suit, but ended up more flustered than anything else, turning the ball over or missing easy shots on the fast break numerous times. Pruitt went on his long distance bombing run about 10 minutes in and the Comets grabbed a 23-21 lead. Coach Kevin VandeStreek then took decisive action. He made some key substitutions, the offense settled down, grabbed the lead back, Veenstra hit a decisive three-pointer, and the Knights never looked back.
Calvin’s slow, plodding, consistent offense took command of the game. Easy baseline lay-ups and 10-foot leaners abounded and the Knights soon found themselves with a comfortable lead. Prins sliced through the weak Olivet defense like a hot knife through butter and created opportunities for everyone on the Knights to contribute, and they did. Meanwhile, the Comets looked like a team of Allen Iversons, all trying to win the game single-handedly. Wild drives to the hoop and off-balance three-point shots turned the high-powered Comets’ offense into a circus act. If this game were on a playground, the outcome might have been different, but as it was, the more disciplined and fundamentally sound Calvin team took command. At halftime, Calvin was clearly in control and lead 53-39.
The second half was only more of the same. The Comets, down by 27 at one point, became desperate and threw defense to the wind. This was epitomized five minutes into the half when senior Tony Westhouse drove a lane more fit for a tractor-trailer than a 6” center and slammed home a two-handed dunk. Looking around him as he hung for a moment on the rim, Westhouse could see a key more vacant then the Dolly Dimple motel. Despite turning all their focus to offense, the Comets failed to muster any semblance of a comeback, looking rather embarrassed during the closing minutes as Calvin’s second stringers seemingly toyed with them. The 111-89 final could only come too soon for the Olivet players and came even sooner for many Calvin fans, some of whom began heading for the exits with over 10 minutes left.
With the win, Calvin improves to 12-8 overall, 5-3 in the MIAA. They move within a half game of second place Albion. Olivet falls to 10-10, 2-5 in the conference, and falls a full game behind fifth place Adrian.
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