GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University men's basketball team put together a terrific defensive effort to defeat St. Norbert College (SNC) 68-52 on Saturday at Van Noord Arena.
 
Calvin (5-6) held SNC (9-3) to 32.2 percent shooting from the field in the win, including 29.6 percent (8-27) from beyond the three-point line.
 
The Knights opened and closed the first half with big runs to help create separation early. Calvin started the game on a 9-2 run, but the Green Knights answered with a run of their own and took a 19-16 lead with 6:08 to play in the first half.
 
Calvin started to pull away from there as it closed the half on a 17-1 run and did not allow a field goal over that final stretch to take a 33-20 halftime lead. Owen Varnado (Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian) led the way for Calvin with 11 first half points, while Luka Ressler (Caledonia, Mich./Catholic Central) chipped in a pair of three-pointers to score six points in the half.
 
The Knights continued to roll in the second half and never allowed their lead to get below double digits over the final 20 minutes. Calvin quickly pushed its advantage to 20 (44-24) in the opening five minutes of the half on a free throw by Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley), and led by as many as 21 points with 9:03 to play following a Varnado free throw.
 
Calvin shot 50.0 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 45.8 percent. The Knights also went 16-18 from the free throw line and 8-21 (38.1 percent) from beyond the arc for the game.
 
Varnado led Calvin with 17 points, while Ressler added 12 and Trevin Winkle (McBain, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian) joined them in double figures with 10 points.
 
Egekeze finished with nine points, four assists and two blocks, and moved into 14th place in program history with 1,335 career points.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "I thought we had one of our better defensive performances overall," said Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall. "That's a good basketball team and one of the higher ranked offensive teams in the country, and I thought we did a tremendous job of shutting them down. Offense still a little of a work in progress, but doing some good things there, too. Hopefully we can continue to do that, but just a really good win to get ourselves primed up to get into conference play next week."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's basketball will return to action on Wednesday, January 8, when it hosts Albion College at 8:00 PM at Van Noord Arena.