GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The 15th-ranked Calvin University men's basketball team advanced to the MIAA Tournament final with a 63-47 win over The University of Olivet on Friday night at Van Noord Arena.
 
The game was a struggle for both offenses throughout, as Calvin (20-6) held Olivet (11-16) to 32.1 percent shooting while the Comets' zone defense held the Knights to 37.0 percent, but the Knights were able to pull away down the stretch thanks to major contributions from their two All-MIAA First Team performers in Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) and Owen Varnado (Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian).
 
The Comets jumped in front 7-0 early, but the Knights roared back to take a 34-27 halftime edge thanks to 6-11 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. Parker Swartz (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northview/Ohio Dominican University) hit a pair of threes off the bench on the way to eight first half points, while Varnado, Luka Ressler (Caledonia, Mich./Catholic Central), Trevin Winkle (McBain, Mich./Northern Michigan Christian) and Brady Ewing (Petoskey, Mich./Petoskey) each hit one from downtown to push the Knights in front by seven.
 
The Knights found good looks but shot 1-9 from beyond the arc in the second half, but the Knights defense answered the bell by holding the Comets to 23.3 percent after the break.
 
Olivet cut the Calvin lead to three (47-44) with under eight minutes to play, but Egekeze, who was named MIAA Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year earlier in the day, scored six straight points to push the lead back up to nine at 53-44.
 
Varnado took over from that point, scoring nine of the Knights' last 10 points to finish off a 23-point performance (18 in the second half). During that stretch, Varnado went 5-6 from the free throw line and added a pair of driving reverse lay-ups to push the final margin back up to 16 before the final buzzer.
 
Varnado added six rebounds and a pair of steals to go with his game-high 23 points. Egekeze joined him in double figures with 12 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
The win for the Knights pushed their winning streak to 19, which ranks as the third-longest current winning streak in NCAA III. It also gave the Knights 20 wins for the fourth consecutive season.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "It was a rock fight," Calvin head coach Bill Sall said. "Credit to Olivet. I thought they did a really good job with their zone (defense) coming at us and it was one of those nights where we couldn't make a shot. I was happy with the shots. We had a lot of inside out looks. Credit to them with (Olivet center Conner) Schipper really defends the rim well. But we just gutted it out. It was great to see that effort and desire to win this game and I was really happy down the stretch with us just really stamping it out on the defensive side and holding them to a really low percentage."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin men's basketball will return to action tomorrow (Saturday, March 1) when it hosts Hope College at Van Noord Arena in the MIAA Tournament Final for the 216th edition of The Rivalry. The Flying Dutchmen advanced to the final thanks to a 64-62 win over 18th-ranked Trine University in Friday's other semifinal. The MIAA Tournament Final is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM.