GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The 20th-ranked Calvin University men's basketball team celebrated senior day and the end of the regular season with a dominant performance in a 70-53 win over ninth-ranked Trine University on Saturday.
 
With the win, Calvin (19-6, 14-0) pushed its winning streak to 18 games while completing the program's first undefeated conference season since the 1999-00 campaign. The Knights also secured only the fourth ever 14-0 conference mark in MIAA history and the first since the 2011-12 season.
 
The Knights overwhelmed Trine (21-4) from the opening tip, racing out to a 20-2 lead early and never looking back. Calvin held the Thunder without a field goal for the first eight minutes while they built the 18-point advantage.
 
Owen Varnado (Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian) led the early charge with eight of the Knights' first 10 points, capped by a thunderous fast break slam to make the score 10-2 with 16:18 remaining in the half, and Trevin Winkle (McBain, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian) and Parker Swartz (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview/Ohio Dominican University) combined for 10 of the early 20 points.
 
The Thunder started to find its way back into the game and cut the deficit to 21-11 with 7:27 remaining in the opening half, but the Knights closed the first half on another 17-6 run to take a 38-17 lead into the locker room for halftime. Calvin finished the first half shooting 54.5 percent from the field on offense while holding the Thunder to 24.0 percent and forcing 10 turnovers on the way to the 21-point lead at the break.
 
Trine started the second half with nine straight points to cut the Calvin lead to 12 (38-26), but that would be as close as the Thunder would get the rest of the way. The Knights battled foul trouble in the second half with both Varnado and Winkle each picking up four fouls, but Luka Ressler (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia) came through with timely shots from the outside and scored all 14 of his points in the second half with the help of three big three-pointers to keep the Knights in control on the way to securing the win.
 
Battling one of the best defenses in the nation, Calvin finished the day shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 44.4 percent (8-18) from beyond the three-point arc.
 
The defense held the Thunder to 38.2 percent shooting, including only 2-11 from beyond the arc, and forced 14 turnovers in the win.
 
Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) finished with a game-high 17 points while also hounding the MIAA's leading scorer Drew Moore into a tough shooting night with only seven points for the game.
 
Ressler finished with 14 points, while Varnado and Winkle finished with 11 points apiece.
 
The win over the ninth-ranked Thunder marked the fourth win of the season for the Knights against a top-15 opponent.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "The defensive intensity was unreal (at the start of the game)," Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall said. "That first 20 minutes is probably the best we've defended all year. We were really active. Our energy was outstanding and I'm really proud of how we responded today."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin will return to action on Friday, February 28, when it hosts the MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Knights will play in the late semi-final game scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM against the winner of the first round match-up between the fourth and fifth seeds.