OBERLIN, Ohio – After splitting its first two games last weekend, the Kalamazoo College men's basketball team added another tally to the win column Friday evening as the Hornets defeated Oberlin College, 74-70, in their opening game of the Oberlin Thanksgiving Classic.
Kalamazoo started the game hot and jumped out to a 6-1 lead on back-to-back threes from Adam Dykema. Jason Hugan scored the next six points for K extending the lead to 12-1.
The Yeomen didn't go away easily, though. Kalamazoo held onto a slight 35-30 lead at the half.
Oberlin closed the gap even further and came within three points of tying the game with 11:02 to play in the second half, but an 18-9 run from the Hornets over the next 5:54 minutes of play gave Kalamazoo the cushion it needed down the stretch.
Both Dykema and Hugan proved to be key contributors all night long for the Hornets as they scored 20 and 14, respectively. Dykema also added nine rebounds to his stat line.
Also scoring in double figures for K was Josh Miller who ended his night with 10 points and six rebounds.
Kalamazoo's defense limited the Yeomen to just 38.7 percent shooting from the floor, and the Hornets limited Oberlin's second chance opportunities by dominating the glass, 44-25.
K was 8-of-16 from downtown.
With tonight's win, Kalamazoo improves to 2-1 early in the 2016-17 season. The Hornets take on Illinois Tech tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. in the final game of the Oberlin Thanksgiving Classic.