KALAMAZOO, Mich - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team picked up its first win of the season Wednesday night, defeating the visiting Bluffton Beavers by a score of 73-67.
The Hornets never trailed in this game, jumping out to an 8-0 advantage in the opening minutes of the contest. Jimmy Paprocki scored 15 first half points as he overwhelmed the Beavers in the paint to help stretch K's advantage to 12 points as they headed into halftime leading 37-25.
Kalamazoo began the second half as it ended the first and built the lead to 16 points with 15:15 remaining in the game behind strong shooting and high pressure defense. Bluffton, however, caught fire from deep in the second shooting 63.6 percent from behind the arc as they chipped away at the Kalamazoo lead and eventually trailed by only two points with 13 seconds remaining. Tanner Blyly calmly drained two free throws for two of his 17 points in the final seconds to secure the win for the Hornets.
For the game, Kalamazoo shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 60 percent in the second half, while holding Bluffton to 44 percent overall.
Paprocki lead K with a career high 23 points on 10-15 shooting from the floor while Blyly collected seven rebounds to go along with his 17 points. Roger Hood and Ben Reiter also scored in double figures with 10 and 12 points, respectively.
Kevin Christie led Bluffton with a game high 25 points.
Kalamazoo will travel to the University of Chicago for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday.