Men’s basketball ends season with 81-74 loss to Calvin

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team celebrated Senior Day and ended its season with an 81-74 loss to Calvin College today at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet.

Olivet scored the first four points before the Knights scored the next seven. The Comets came back to tie the game at 8-8. The teams traded baskets and neither team had more than a 3-point lead until Jordan Mast hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Calvin ahead by four points, 22-18.

Olivet came back with a 5-0 run to regain the lead, 23-22. After the Knights tied the game on a free throw, the Comets went ahead 25-23 on a layup by junior Matt Smith (Allegan). From there, Calvin went on a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 33-27. Olivet scored seven of the last 10 points of the half to trail by only two points, 36-34, at the break.

The Knights never managed to build a double digit lead in the second half, as they led by nine points on four occasions. Twice in the final two minutes of the game, the Comets were able to get their deficit down to three points, but they could not complete the comeback.

For the game, Olivet made four more baskets, 30-26, than Calvin. The difference in the game was the Knights had six 3-pointers to two for the Comets. Calvin also went 23-of-38 from the foul line to 12-of-16 for Olivet.

For the Comets, freshman Paul Lombard (New Era/Montague) posted his first collegiate double-double with career-highs in points (16) and rebounds (12). Junior Alvino Ashley (Detroit/MLK) finished with a team-high 16 points. Playing in his final collegiate game, senior Jaren Edsall (Whitehall) had 13 points. Freshman Marquis Childers (Muskegon Heights) had six assists and six steals.

For the Knights, Tyler Kruis had a game-best 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Matt DeBoer and David Rietema each scored 12, while Bryan Powell had 10.