DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team looked to string together its second straight win Tuesday night as it traveled to Defiance College for a non-conference match-up, but the hosting Yellow Jackets defeated the Hornets by a final score of 88-70
Kalamazoo went down early in the contest as the Yellow Jackets took a 10-2 lead at the 16:47 mark but with 10:53 remaining in the first half, the Hornets had battled back to tie the game at 15.
The Hornets took their largest lead of the half at the 5:07 mark but like much of the first half, the Yellow Jackets responded and Kalamazoo trailed by the slight edge of 40-39 at halftime.
Chase Baysdell and Adam Dykema each reached double figure scoring in the first half.
The second half of play proved to be similar to the first half of play with the teams going back-and-forth, but a quick 10-0 run by the Yellow Jackets beginning at the 7:05 mark of the second half stretched a four point lead to a 14 point lead in just over three minutes.
Despite doing their best to battle back, Kalamazoo was unable to recover from the Yellow Jackets' run down the stretch as Manchester ended the game shooting 45 percent from the floor.
Kalamazoo ended the day shooting 38 percent but did shoot 82 percent from the free throw line, knocking down 9-of-11 from the stripe.
While Baysdell and Dykema led the way offensively in the first half, Mike Oravetz came on strong in the second half ending the day with a game-high 19 points. Baysdell and Dykema ended the game with 14 and 17 points, respectively.
Josh Whitney provided a spark off the bench for the Hornets scoring 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes.
Kalamazoo continues its non-conference schedule on Dec. 18 at the Trinity Invitational Tournament when it takes on Schreiner.