Box Score
Hope started Gardner, Seiler, Eidson, Snuggerud, VanArendonk. Bench minutes went primarily to Neil, DeMaagd and McMahon. Brock Benson's minutes were cut by foul trouble, Holwerda filled those minutes. Snuggerud played over 30 minutes for only the 3rd time this year and on a bad ankle, he was a warrior in his last game.
Game Recap:
It wouldn't be too hard to just copy and paste the first meeting at Calvin in this space and basically be correct. Each of these 3 games has looked very similar, about half-way through the first half Calvin begins to tighten the defensive screws and Hope flounders around looking for offense desperately trying to stay in the game. In Holland they were able to do that and ended up pulling out a close game late. In the other two, including last night, they weren't able to score often enough or stop Calvin often enough and the game just simply got away from them to a point there was no coming back.
Hope's been good since the week of that first Calvin game but last night many of the same shots they've been hitting just stayed out. Calvin's defense was very good and a big reason why the offensive struggles were there but I think Hope made themselves a lot easier to defend than they had been in recent games. I don't think its much of a secret that Ben Gardner has been a big reason why Hope's offense has improved so much the last 3 or 4 weeks. For long stretches of this one Dave Rietema's defense effectively took him out of the offense, if it hadn't been for a late basket w/foul he would have been shut-out of the first half scoring.
They were fortunate to only be down 8 at the half and really needed to have a strong start to the second half. The most disappointing part of the game for me was here when Hope turned it over 4 times in the first 5 minutes of the half, most of it just sloppy. By that 5 minutes in mark nothing had really changed, Calvin still led by 11. Five minutes later after nothing but ft's and no defensive stops the deficit was 20 and it was pretty much over.
Hope needed to be a lot better than they were last night to beat a good team on their floor. It was disappointing to watch them be outworked for rebounds and loose balls in a game that meant so much. A review of the film will show several times a Hope player in position for a rebound and having it knocked out of their hands, or in position to retrieve a loose ball and being out-hustled by the other guy, the 'want' was on the other side.
In the end it was much like their season, not enough to get the rewards they were looking for.
Pool C? Hope's out. I think Hope's going to end up in a
better position than people think, but its not going to be enough to
grab a bid. They still have a good winning %, and a strong strength of
schedule, numbers that have received bids in the past. Working against
them is a Pool C crop that seems a bit stronger than in years past and a
regional committee that thinks Thomas More should be ranked ahead of
them. Thomas More's ranking will block Hope from ever being discussed
and the Saints aren't likely to receive a C bid themselves with a
mediocre strength of schedule vs the schools they'll be compared
against. If you want a game to curse and shake your fists at the sky it
was the loss at Olivet. With that win Hope might have had enough to be
ranked ahead of Thomas More and thus be 'on the table' for Pool C
discussion. They still might not have received a bid but at least
they'd be there. One bad week of basketball and you're sitting at home,
that's pretty much the division 3 season.
20 win seasons With 18 wins a streak of seven years winning 20 games comes to an end. They only started playing something over 20 game seasons that made 20 win seasons realistic and more frequent in the early 80's. Prior to these past 7 years Hope's longest previous streak had been 4 years.
Hope's 4 Freshmen combined to go just 4-19 on the night. I think when the season began I was hopeful these guys could step in and contribute to what should have been a pretty decent core group of guys returning. Never would I have guessed Gardner, Eidson, Benson had to become such prominent figures in Hope's season. All of them had ups and downs but on the whole the ups outweighed the downs. When you start to look at next years depth chart you start to realize its really going to be their team, their program for the next 3 years. This year will turnout invaluable in their learning process. Nothing should stoke the competitive fires like getting your butt kicked at your rival twice in one season.
Scoring and Interesting Stats:
Not many stats are interesting when you play like Hope did, 10 first half turnovers and 4 more in the first 5 minutes of the second half is 14 in 25 minutes, its sloppy and too sloppy to stay competitive with a team like Calvin.
3-point shooting: 1-14 last night, bad night to have your worst night of the season. 1-10 against Trine Thursday meant 2-24 on the week. Woof
Nate Snuggerud: 17 pts, 7 rbs.......uncharacteristic night at the ft line otherwise this was a terrific final performance.
Nate VanArendonk: 9 pts, 5 rbs.....Calvin did a nice job pushing him away from the basket
Ben Gardner: 7 pts, 2 rbs.....just a tough night shooting the ball, shots that went in the last 4 weeks just didn't for him last night.
Efficiency:
Estimated number of possessions: Hope 70 Calvin 68
Normal as can be normal
Offensive Efficiency: 81.2
Woof again. Both halves looked like that. Calvin's been doing this to ordinary offensive teams all season long, Hope's not an ordinary offensive team but Calvin made them look like an ordinary offensive team last night and again in early January.
Defensive Efficiency: 112.12
There wasn't much 'stop' in Hope defense, 105 first half, 122 second. The only thing that kept the second half from being something gigantic was Calvin getting sloppy when the game was out of reach.
I guess if you really wanted to analyze it in simple terms; one team elevated their game at both ends of the floor, one did not.
Rebounding Efficiency:
Hope: 28% of available offensive rebounds
Calvin: 43.3% of available offensive rebounds
Second chance points was 15-5 in Calvin's favor, again I point to the number of times Hope was in position and just got out battled for the ball. This needed to be a lot better to even have a chance.
Moments or Keys to the Game:
Early second half was the difference, Hope was still in it and needed a strong start but didn't get it. Calvin put the ball in Tom Snikkers hands and he went hard to the basket 3 or 4 times in a row and either scored or was fouled. Not much longer after that the deficit was insurmountable.
Bryan Powell, was clearly not 100% in Holland but looked much more like himself last night. His overall season was a big reason Calvin was able to get over their 'hump' (which was mostly themselves)
My Game Ball Goes To:
Nate Snuggerud was Hope's best player on a night when they needed their best player to be good. Only Nate knows how uncomfortable he was out on the floor this season and on Thursday he picked up a sprained ankle for good measure.
Standings
Snuggerud - 7
Overway - 4
Gardner - 3
VanArendonk - 2
Eidson - 2
Seiler - 2
Benson - 2
Byers - 1
DeMaagd - 1
Neil -1
Everyone -1
Going Forward:
Unfortunately there is no forward as this loss puts an end to Hope's season. The immediate aftermath of last night is not a good feeling. Hope didn't go down playing its best basketball, Calvin's to be given credit for making Hope look the way they did.
On the night of January 19th though even having a last night didn't seem very likely. Since then Hope strung together a strong stretch of play going 9-1 while losing your Senior starting point guard and included turning around a 26 point loss in the rivalry game into an improbable win. It didn't turn out to bad.
Up Next: Stiff drink
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