By Mitch Blankespoor

HANCOCK, Mich. – The Calvin College men's basketball team made the nine-hour drive to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to face the Lions in an in-region contest Saturday afternoon.  The Knights were victorious, defeating Finlandia 103-62 to improve to 7-2 on the season.

Calvin jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first seven minutes of the contest by feeding the ball inside.  Junior center Tyler Kruis (Grandville/Calvin Christian) chipped in six points and junior forward Mickey De Vries (Lansing/Lansing Christian) added four in the early going.  The Lions cut the deficit to single digits at the 7:53 mark of the first half on a layup from sophomore forward Allante Denson (Detroit, Mich.). 

Calvin outscored Finlandia by six points en route to a 43-27 halftime lead.  Calvin shot 51.4 percent from the field in the first half.  Senior forward Tom Snikkers (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) led the Knights with 12 points in the first half.  Kruis chipped in eight points.  Sophomore Tyler Dykstra (Holland/Holland Christian) had four points and five rebounds. 

Calvin opened up its lead to 21 points three minutes into the second half.  Finlandia would not get closer.  Calvin's biggest lead came on a Dan Stout (Escondido, Cal./Calvin Christian) with 23 seconds remaining in the game. 

"We played very consistent throughout the entire game," Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek said after the match.  "I also thought Tommy [Snikkers] had a great game.  He did everything we asked of him."

Snikkers finished with a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists.  This moves Snikkers to 13th on Calvin's all-time scoring list with 1,150 points.  Kruis finished with 20 points.  Sophomore Jordan Brink (Dyer, Ind./Illiana Christian) added 10 points.

Finlandia was led in defeat by junior Dominic Morrow (Taylor, Mich.) and freshman Dylan Schroeder (Brimley, Mich.) with 13 and 12 points respectively. 

Calvin will return to action December 28 and 29 when it travels to Elmhusrt, Ill.  The Knights will face Wabash and then either Elmhurst or Ripon on day two of the tournament.