GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University men's basketball team used another big run to close the first half to defeat The University of Olivet 86-55 on Saturday at Van Noord Arena.
 
Calvin (9-6, 4-0 MIAA) trailed early 26-15 just after the midway point of the first half thanks to a hot start from Olivet (3-12, 1-3 MIAA), but rolled from that point on thanks to a 26-2 run over the final nine minutes to take a 41-28 halftime lead.
 
Daane Harvey (Ada, Mich./Forest Hills Eastern) was the catalyst on the offensive end for the Knights, draining two straight three-pointers to help the Knights close the deficit to start the run, and then two more in the final minute to push the halftime lead to 13 points.
 
Harvey's 13 first-half points already set a new career high for the senior wing, and he would add two more three-pointers in the second half to push his scoring total to 19 for the game on 6-8 shooting (all from three-point range) in only 15 minutes of game action.
 
The second half started just as the first half ended, with the Knights dominating on both ends of the floor as they came out of the locker room with a 15-2 run to push the total run to 41-4 over a stretch of more than 12 minutes.

The Comets' zone that gave the Knights some trouble to start the game could not contain the Knights from beyond the arc as Calvin finished the day 14-30 from distance, including 8-18 in the second half. Owen Varnado (Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian) was strong as an offensive hub in the middle of the Olivet zone and finished with seven assists and nine rebounds to go with eight points.
 
Trevin Winkle (McBain, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian) scored 11 points in the first half and added six more in the second to finish with 17 points for the game on 7-13 shooting.
 
Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) scored 10 points and added four steals, six rebounds and three assists in the win. With his 10 points, Egekeze moved into 11th place in program history with 1,373 career points, moving past Mickey Phelps and Tom Newhof on the afternoon. He also moved into second place in program history with 189 career steals.
 
On the defensive end, Calvin held the Comets to 43.8 percent shooting for the game and forced 17 turnovers that turned into 29 points on the other end, capped by an emphatic two-handed slam by Egekeze on a fast break late in the second half.
 
The win was Calvin's eighth in a row and the fourth straight to start MIAA play.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "I knew that Olivet was going to be a tough opponent," Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall said. "At the beginning of the game, they really took it to us. It's been a little bit of a struggle for us these last few games coming out the way we need to come out, but I really like our response. It was really awesome, and it was great to see us really take care of business over the last 32 minutes or so of that game. It was also great to see with Daane. Senior leadership right there. He's a great shooter, and today he found those shots and he made them."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's basketball returns to action on Wednesday, January 22, when it travels to Hope College for the next installment of The Rivalry series. That game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM.