In a hotly contested game, Calvary pulled out a win against their regional opponent, beating the Archers 68-63.
Calvary opened the scoring in this one with Ques Harris stealing the ball and getting an easy layup. The teams then went back-and-forth trading leads with neither team able to get ahead by more than four points for longer than one possession. With four minutes left in the first half a pair of Ben Jones free throws tied the game at 30. In the final 20 seconds of the half, a Braydon Unruh three followed by a quick layup from the Archers sent Calvary to the locker room with a 43-40 lead.
Moody came out of the break shooting much better and opened the half on a 21-5 run, holding CU scoreless for nine minutes, and taking a 61-48 lead over the Warriors. Head Coach Matt Sanders said that at this point, “They really just wanted it more than we did.” This led to a series of substitutions for the coach, removing and later reinserting all five starters, who from that point on, ”Put on a show defensively.”
This allowed Calvary to begin their comeback, as Unruh converted a one-and-one opportunity to cut the lead to 10 with 8:49 left. Just over a minute later Unruh nailed a three off an assist from Zeb Green to cut the Moody lead to five at 61-56. With 6:38 left in the game, the Archers scored their final points extending their lead to 63-59. It was all CU from then on. Jay Lems knocked down an open three to pull the Warriors to within one, and with 3:10 to play Zeb Green tied the game with a free throw. With just over a minute left in the game, Unruh drove the ball coast-to-coast, scoring the go-ahead layup. Green then added three points over the final 24 seconds as Calvary earned the 68-63 win. Green said after the game that despite the early defensive struggles, “It was good to see the team fight together until the end.”
A great defensive effort in the final ten minutes of the second half greatly aided the Warriors’ comeback. After Moody went on a 21-5 run to open the half, Calvary flipped the script and went on a 20-2 run of their own to close out the game. After the game, Jay Lems said, “We struggled defensively [early on], but we got stops down the stretch when it mattered.” The Warriors did just that, holding Moody to just two points over the last 11 minutes, and scoreless for the final six.
Unruh led all scorers with 26 points, going 6-7 from the free-throw line and adding five assists. Green finished with another double-double tallying 15 points and 13 rebounds. Lems made it three double-digit scorers for the Warriors with 11 points.
Bobby Kirpas led the
Archers with 19 points, shooting 50% from the floor.
With the win Calvary
moves to 6-5 on the year, going 2-0 on their Illinois road trip. This is the
second time this season Calvary has won a pair of Friday-Saturday road games,
with come from behind victories in both Saturday games.
The Warriors return
home to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State at the Pyramid Athletic Center on
Friday.
After a slow start, Calvary found its rhythm on offense and downed Dayspring 80-44.
After not playing in over a week Calvary began the first half looking sluggish against an undersized, but scrappy Dayspring team. The Warriors struggled on the offensive end for the first 20 minutes but played well defensively holding Dayspring to just 28% shooting in the first half. CU headed to halftime leading 36-24.
The second half was a different story offensively for the Warriors. After being challenged at halftime by head coach Matt Sanders to start quickly and outplay Dayspring, Calvary did just that. After a quick three from Jay Lems, the shots began to fall and the Warriors found themselves up 21 early in the second half. From there CU cruised to a 36 point win.
The large margin
allowed the Warrior starters to rest most of the second half and provided
meaningful minutes for some of the bench players, a group Sanders praised after
the game, “We got some outstanding bench minutes [in the first half] from our
pressing group, and it was great to get some of the younger guys minutes [in
the second half].”
Zeb Green again led
the way for Calvary with a 16 point, 10 rebound double-double. Braydon Unruh
and Ben Jones added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Joe Vasquez led Dayspring
with 10 points.
With the win
Calvary improves to 5-5 and faces Moody for a big regional matchup in Chicago
Saturday night.
Calvary’s defense led to easy offense and
helped the Warriors pull away for the 78-54 win in St. Louis Friday night
against Principia College.
Both teams traded
baskets early and then Principia led by six midway through the first quarter.
But after a pair of threes and transition layups from Taylor Hunter the first
quarter ended tied at 16.
In the second quarter, the Warriors turned up the defense allowing only two Panther field goals. Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker was pleased with the defensive effort, “Our girls came ready to play today. They did a great job on defense stopping the drive and utilizing help defense.” Two early free throws from Anna Holloway gave Calvary a lead they would never relinquish. The Warriors headed into halftime up 32-24.
In the third quarter, Calvary’s offense picked up where it left off scoring 29 points. They went on a great 13-0 run sparked by great defense and headed to the fourth with an 18 point lead 61-43. It was more of the same from there as the Warriors extended their lead to 24 taking the game from the higher division opponent 78-54.
Hunter led the
scoring for the Warriors with 27 including five 3-pointers. Holloway added 22
and was a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. Avery Kornstad led the team with 7
rebounds.
Sophia Hathaway led the Panthers scoring 24
of their 54 points.
The win moves
Calvary back to .500 on the season at 5-5. The Warriors get a rematch against
Cottey College on Tuesday.
Calvary began its two-game road trip with a tough 88-58 loss to the Red Devils. Both teams started slowly but with 1:40 minutes left in the first quarter, Eureka held a 16-8 lead. Calvary then went on a 9-3 run to close out the quarter and headed to the second down just two 19-17.
The game
stayed close at the beginning of the second quarter with the Warriors grabbing
a 21-20 lead after an Anna Holloway layup. It was all Eureka from that point on
as they closed out the half on an 18-7 run and led 38-27 at the break.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Red Devil’s outscored the Warriors 28-9 in the third quarter and headed to the fourth with a 66-36 lead. The deficit stayed the same through the fourth quarter with Calvary unable to close the gap eventually falling to their NCAA Division 3 opponent 88-58.
Holloway and
Avery Kornstad led the Warriors with 15 points apiece, Holloway also collected
eight rebounds to lead CU.
Olivia Falls for Eureka led all scorers with 23. Head Coach Tressa Shoemaker complemented the Warriors’ fourth-quarter offense after the game. “If we can make [our offense] a priority we will be a strong contender soon.”
With the loss,
Calvary moves to 4-5 on the season and will take on Principia College Friday
night.
Josh Tomlinson is a Senior Pastoral Studies major who is
finishing his internship at Lawson Bible Church on Dec 23. “This internship has been such an incredible
experience,” said Tomlinson. “I am so
grateful that God chose to send me here to serve.”
He has been serving at the church since August 29. His tasks have included working with the youth group on Wednesday nights, serving on the worship team, and doing a little preaching. He has had the opportunity to learn a lot by joining their worship team and playing bass guitar on a weekly basis. He is grateful for how God has challenged him while working in all three capacities. He can see that these opportunities have helped prepare him as he is about to graduate and look for his own ministry in the near future.
Recently he had the opportunity to preach on John 17. Josh has come to the realization that each time
he preaches, the word of God impacts him just as much or more as the people in
the congregation. He is grateful for
each preaching or teaching opportunity he gets because he can see himself
maturing and he can also see his teaching and preaching style is being
molded.
This specific internship is very special because of the
mentoring relationship that has begun to develop between him and Dr. Skip
Hessel who is a professor at Calvary.
Dr. Hessel is also part of the leadership at Lawson Bible Church. They
agreed to get together on Thursdays some time ago to begin talking about the
possibility of an internship, but as time has gone by they have started a mentoring
relationship that has surpassed just the internship. Now they both take opportunities to truly
challenge each other in critical areas when they meet weekly. Josh is grateful for Skip and how he has been
impacted personally by him to think deeper and more practically. He is always challenged through the
experiences Skip shares.
Overall because of an experience like this, Josh is more confident
in who God made him as a person to go and impact the world. We are so grateful to see students like Josh
come to Calvary and go through classes, projects, and internships, while they
are building relationships that sharpen them as they seek to impact the world
for Jesus Christ.
