SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The 10th-ranked Calvin University men's basketball team started its weekend at the Great Lakes Invitational with a 68-51 win over Marietta College on Friday afternoon at Wittenberg University.
Marietta (2-1) entered the game coming off a win over preseason number-one Christopher Newport University last weekend and built an early 10-6 lead, but Calvin (2-0) took control of the game as the first half went along before closing the half with a 15-3 run over the final 7:50 to take a 35-20 lead into halftime.
Jalen Overway (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) led the way with 11 first-half points, while the Calvin defense held the Pioneers to 25.0 percent from the floor.
The second half proved more of the same for the two teams, with the Knights leading the rest of the way by at least 11 points and building an edge as high as 18 points on the way to the win.
The Calvin defense held Marietta to 25.0 percent (15-60) from the field for the game, and the Pioneers also helped the Knights at the free throw line, where they made just 16 of 31 attempts.
The Knights shot 43.9 percent from the field and did much of their work down low, doubling the Pioneers with a 32-16 advantage in the paint for the game.
Overway did much of that damage down low for the Knights and finished with a game-high 20 points (9-13 field goals) to go with eight rebounds.
Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while also adding two steals and one block.
COACH'S COMMENT: "I was really happy with our defensive effort today," head coach
Bill Sall said. "Everyone that played in the game came with an amazing amount of effort and energy. It was a great team win. Very happy that we won the rebounding battle (46-34) against a very good rebounding team. We've got a short amount of rest before taking on a very good La Roche team tomorrow. The GLI is an amazing tournament."
NEXT UP: Calvin men's basketball returns to action at the Great Lakes Invitational at Wittenberg tomorrow (Saturday, November 18) when it plays La Roche in a game scheduled to tip off at 1:00 PM. La Roche lost 77-68 to 25th-ranked UW-Oshkosh in the early game on Friday at the tournament.
