Box Score By Gina de Haan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After three straight games on the road, the Knights were back in action at Van Noord Arena on Wednesday night as they played host to conference opponent Albion College.
Calvin entered the contest looking to snap a three game losing streak. In the final days of January, Knights dropped three MIAA contests to Adrian, Hope and Trine, their record standing at 8-11, 3-5 MIAA.
Albion possessed a 9-10 overall record prior to Wednesday's game, with a 4-4 conference mark. The Britons were also looking for a win after dropping a hard fought game to Hope.
Despite a second half comeback effort led by senior Jordan Daley, the Knights were unable to recover from a 15-point first half deficit, falling 67-66 to the Britons in the final seconds of the game.
To start the game, the visiting Brits quickly earned a 5-0 advantage, but the Knights got on the board after a three-pointer by senior Austin Parks. After a made jump shot by Albion's Jaylin Fordham, Calvin scored the next four points to tie the game at seven.
The teams went back and forth with scoring, Jordan Daley, Austin Parks, freshman Carlos Amoros and Cam Denney all contributing offensively, until both the Knights and Britons had 18 points and 10 minutes remained in the 1st half.
Albion began to pull away, earning itself a six-point lead (24-18) with 7:35 left before the break.
Daley scored four straight points to make the score 24-22, but the Knights were held scoreless for the following 6:30 while the Brits went on a 15-point run, capped off by back-to-back triples by Fordham and Jason Zahran.
Daley snapped Calvin's dry spell by sinking a jumper with under a minute left in the half, but the scoreboard read 39-24 in Albion's favor as the teams headed into the break.
In the first half, the Knights shot 33.3% (10-30) from the floor and 22.2% (2-9) from three-point range while the Brits made 51.6% (16-31) of their field goals and 50% (5-10) of their shots behind the arc.
Coming out of the break, the Brits extended their lead to 18 after a three-point play by Fordham, but Daley answered with a jumper and a made shot from behind the arc to bring the score to 42-29.
Albion's Ryan Robert hit a triple, but was answered by eight consecutive Calvin points. Carlos Amoros knocked down a free throw, Daley put in a layup and then capitalized on a three-point play and sophomore Michael Wilks completed the run by sinking a jumper from the corner, cutting Albion's lead to eight.
The Britons were able to earn back a comfortable 14-point lead as the midpoint of the 2nd half neared. A three-point bucket by Denney brought the score to 51-40, but Albion's Corey Wheeler quickly responded with a three of his own.
Points by both teams followed, but after Fordham's fourth made three-pointer, Albion had a 59-44 lead with 7:30 remaining.
Freshman Preston Huckaby got the Knights rolling by capitalizing on a three-point play. After an Albion layup, Wilks and Daley both sunk triples, cutting the visitors' lead to 8 (61-53) with just over five minutes remaining. A pair of free throws by Wilks would bring the Knights' deficit to six.
After scoring on both ends, Daley stepped up and knocked down a big three-pointer, cutting the Brits' lead to 5 (65-60) with 2:21 left to play.
With just over a minute remaining, Daley drove, was fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws.
On the other end of the floor, Albion's Dakota Kazen was sent to the line and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Michael Wilks grabbed the rebound, outletted the ball to Daley who fed Cam Denney for a dunk, making the score 65-64 still in favor of the Brits.
Huckaby got the steal on Albion's inbounds play and was fouled by Fordham, his fifth of the game. Huckaby sunk both bonus free throws, giving the Knights a 66-65 lead with 25 seconds to play.
However, Calvin was unable to get a stop. Albion's Dakota Kazen threw up a shot that fell with 1.1 seconds remaining, clinching the victory for his team despite a last second shot attempt by the Knights.
The Knights outscored Albion 42-28 in the second half.
"I'm certainly proud of our guys for hanging in there, going to the end and not giving up. A lot of effort, it's just really disappointing not winning," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We just could not get it in. I felt that we had pretty good looks and a couple new things we put in that got us a lot of good shots, but we were just unable to make shots in the first half."
Daley led all scorers with 32 points (13-21 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 3-3 FT), 22 of those second-half points. Denney recorded a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Wilks also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Albion was led in scoring by Jaylin Fordham who put up 19 points, shooting a solid 4-5 from behind the three-point arc. Jordan Herron and Corey Wheeler had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
This Saturday, Calvin will host Olivet College (2-7, 3-17 MIAA) in another conference contest. In the first MIAA matchup of the season between the Comets and Knights, Calvin took home a 91-44 lead. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.
