By Jack Stephens
John Carroll Sports Information

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — Kicking off the first round of the Division III NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the No. 10 Calvin Knights conquered the No. 17 Elmhurst Blue Jays by a score of 93-78, to advance to the Round of 32. 

The Knights jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead after four minutes. The 9-point advantage would be held for the next couple minutes, until the Blue Jays went on a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to three. Both teams were in a dogfight until Calvin sophomore guard Luka Ressler started to rain threes. He'd go a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, three of those coming from deep. One of those came in the final seconds of the first half, which was one of back to back threes to beat the buzzer for the Knights, giving them a 48-33 advantage at the break. 

Ressler led all scorers in the first half with 13, right behind him was sophomore forward Jalen Overway with 10 points and three rebounds. For the Blue Jays, senior guard John Ittounas guided them offensively with 10 points and three assists. Graduate student Quinn Pemberton also put in good minutes for Elmhurst with eight points and two rebounds. 

Overway continued to be a force inside and out for the Knights as he hit another deep ball to open the second half. Triples continued to rain for Calvin as senior forward Marcus Bult connected on two to expand the Knight lead to 17.

Whenever it seemed the Blue Jays would start to claw their way back in, Calvin would respond giving them no chance to make the game close. Bult, Overway and Ressler dominated offensively for Calvin, combining for 59 Knight points. 

The Blue Jays finally found some momentum on both ends of the court in the final two minutes. Capitalizing on missed free throws and hitting wide open buckets, all of a sudden the game was within 10 points with a minute and a half left. However, the Blue Jays comeback would be too little too late, as the Knights made enough free throws down the stretch to hang on. 

The Knights had four scorers in double figures, with Overway leading the way with 24 points and eight rebounds. The Blue Jays also had four double-digit scorers with, Ittounas had a team 21 points off of five three pointers. 

Calvin advances to the Round of 32 to play the winner of John Carroll vs SUNY New Paltz.