KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team left it all out on the court in its final home game of the 2015-16 season.
Holding onto a 29-24 lead at halftime due to a stellar defensive performance, the No. 6 ranked visitors from Hope climbed all the way back stealing the game from the Hornets, 90-79.
Kalamazoo looked primed for an upset from the get-go as a pair of back-to-back layups from Josh Miller gave K a 9-4 lead at the 15:08 mark of the first half.
Despite pushback from the Dutch, Kalamazoo saw its lead grow to as large as 10 when Adam Dykema drilled a three with 3:09 remaining making the score 27-17.
After heading to halftime up five, Hope opened up the second half on a 9-0 run taking a 33-29 lead. The Hornets didn't back down, though. K regained a 37-36 lead when Mike Oravetz, playing his last game at Anderson Athletic Center, nailed a shot from behind the three-point arc with just under 15 minutes to play.
Following Oravetz's made three, Hope rattled off an 11-0 run which proved to be too much for the Hornets to overcome down the stretch despite shooting 54.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from downtown in the second half.
Chase Baysdell led all K scorers with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds.
Oravetz provided a strong performance for K scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Also scoring in double figures for K was Demarco Dickerson with 11 points off the bench.
Miller ended his night just two points shy of a double-double, scoring eight points and corralling 10 rebounds.
Tommy Cerven and Adam Dykema also provided life off the bench for the Hornets scoring nine apiece.
Kalamazoo will look to end the 2015-16 season on a high note as it travels to Adrian this Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off.