GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin men's basketball team extended its winning streak to eight games after taking down Alma at home on Wednesday evening with a final score of 83-70. 

With the win, Calvin improves to 16-6 overall and has a half-game lead over Hope for the current MIAA lead with a 9-2 conference record with Hope at 8-2 after the Flying Dutchmen were defeated by Trine on Wednesday evening. 

In its win over Alma, the Knights started the game with slight lead of 15-9 after a made 3-pointer by junior Eli Sensenig (Grayslake, IL / Westlake Christian Academy). The Scots scrapped their way back into the game and tied the contest 27-27 with 8:03 left in the first half. 

Calvin still put up points as sophomore Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, IL / Huntley) made the tough layup through contact and finished the three-point play to give the Knights a 39-31 lead. 

The Knights quickly rattled off an 8-2 run to close the half and extended their lead to 47-33 going into halftime. Egekeze led the Knights in scoring at halftime with 10 points followed by Sensenig and Luke Morrison (Bristol, IN / Northridge) each with 9 points. 

Calvin shot 19-31 (61.3%) from the field and 5-9 (55.6%) from three-point land. The Knights also had 11 total assists and 5 steals at the half. 

In the early minutes of the second half, the Scots had a good string of possessions to cut the lead the for the Knights to 52-41. Calvin answered with seven straight points capped off by an Alec Fruin (Beloit, WI / Turner) layup for a 59-41 lead. 

The Knights were cruising and pushed their lead to 72-54 after a made layup by senior Jordan Katje (Kalamazoo, MI / Kalamazoo Christian) with 8:27 left. Alma didn't back down as it went on a 13-6 run to only trail 78-67 with 2:18 left in the game. 

Calvin made its free throws down the stretch and hung on to win with a final score of 83-70. 

Calvin was led in scoring by Egekeze with 14 points followed by Emmett Warners (Grand Rapids, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) with 13 points. Morrison and Furin each finished the evening with 11 points and Thad Shymanski (Ada, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) ended with 10 points. 

The Knights shot 32-62 (51.6%) from the field and 9-21 (42.9%) from three-point land. Calvin also finished with 20 total assists and 10 steals on the defensive end. 

COACHES COMMENTS: "I thought we were kind of on and off tonight," said head coach Bill Sall. "I think for us when we are in tune defensively we are much better on the offensive end. We just have to dig deep on the defensive end. We did some things well tonight, but we have to fine tune a couple things heading into the next three-game stretch. We have a huge game ahead of us at Trine. It will be essential that we play great Calvin Knights basketball for long stretches of time on Saturday. The task at hand will be large." 

UP NEXT: The Knights will be on the road at Trine on Saturday February 12 with tipoff at 3 p.m. in Angola, Indiana.