By Dave Buursma

Staff Writer

With four games remaining in league play, the Calvin Men's Basketball team took a momentous step towards bringing home a fourth strait MIAA title, defeating a pesky Kalamazoo team 71-65 in front of a lively Fieldhouse crowd. Calvin's win, coupled with an Albion loss, propelled the Knights into a tie for first place in the league with Hope. The win also avenged an embarrassing 65-42 loss at Kalamazoo earlier this season in which Calvin was held to its lowest scoring output in 20 years.

Despite having what appears to be the inside track to the title with home games against MIAA contenders Albion and Hope, Calvin Coach Kevin Vande Streek realizes that the final stage of the MIAA race will be anything but a cakewalk.

``After three games in the league each team had one loss, so we knew it was going to be a dogfight and we came out with a great win, but there is an awful lot of basketball left to be played.''

Wednesday night's contest started off slow, as Kalamazoo(13-8, 5-3 MIAA) crawled to 3-1 lead four minutes in. Over the next few minutes, however, the shooters heated up and Calvin sophomore Kevin Broene connected on a three-pointer with twelve minutes remaining to knot things up at 13-13.

Calvin(15-5, 6-2 MIAA) took its largest lead of the game at 34-21 on a Rob Dykstra three-pointer with 3:06 remaining in the half. The Hornets responded with a furious 7-0 run to cut the Calvin lead to 34-28 at the halftime break.

During the second stanza, the Knights worked feverously to maintain their lead and put the game away. The Hornets would not go quietly, though, as they chipped away slowly at the Calvin lead. Kalamazoo took its first lead of the second half as junior Nathan Burns stole an errant Calvin pass and laid it in for a 49-48 advantage with 10:33 left in the game. Sophomore Chris Prins quelled the Hornet run in dramatic fashion, as he splashed in a three-pointer with 8:50 to play, giving Calvin a 53-51 lead. After another bucket by Prins, junior Jeremy Veenstra sent the Fieldhouse into frenzy with an emphatic one-handed tomahawk jam that gave the Knights a 57-53 lead and the momentum with 6:43 left. The Knights never looked back from there, outscoring the Hornets 14-12 over the final seven minutes.

Both teams struggled a little from the floor, as the Knights shot 39 percent and the Hornets managed a slightly better 41 percent. Calvin out-rebounded Kalamazoo 33-31 on the night.

Jeremy Veenstra paced the Knights as he poured in a game-high 21 points, grabbed seven boards and had four blocks. Calvin had two other players reach double-digits, as Chris Prins netted 15 points and Rob Dykstra chipped in with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals.

The Hornets were led by senior guard Dirk Rhinehart, who contributed 13 points and five assists in the losing effort.