ANDERSON, Ind. - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team lost its opener 69-55 to Manchester University in a game played at Anderson University Friday evening.
Kalamazoo could not get a shot to fall in the early minutes and quickly found itself down 15-2. The Hornets still trailed by 13 (19-6) at the 9:48 mark of the first half, but used an 11-2 run over the next minute and a half to cut the deficit to four (21-17). Kalamazoo was still within four points (32-28) at 2:58, but went into halftime trailing by seven (36-29).
Kalamazoo scored the first nine points of the second half to take its first lead of the game (38-36) at 15:37. The teams exchanged leads and the score remained tied at 43-43 with 11:46 remaining. Manchester rallied and pulled ahead by double digits and led the rest of the way.
Manchester shot 40.8 percent from the field compared to 35.7 percent for Kalamazoo. The Spartans sank 25-of-31 free throws compared to 22-of-30 for the Hornets. Manchester held a 37-27 advantage in rebounds, including 10-6 on the offensive end.
Ben Reiter led Kalamazoo in scoring with 15 points in 25 minutes off the bench.
Roger Hood finished with 10 points while Jeremiah Vincent scored eight points, all in the first half. Jimmy Paprocki scored seven points with three rebounds. Tanner Blyly led the team with four assists.
Kalamazoo returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. at Anderson.