KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team continued MIAA play with a home game against Hope, who is receiving votes in the national poll, on Saturday (Feb. 3). After being tied at 39 heading into halftime, the Hornets surrendered a 14-0 run to the Flying Dutchmen to open the second half and eventually fell 76-66.
Hope led from the first basket until there was 5:19 on the clock, but Kalamazoo's deficit was never more than nine points. Trailing 19-10 at the 9:57 mark, the Hornets went on a 16-6 run to capture their first lead of the game. The two teams exchanged baskets for the remainder of the half as K hit a three with less than a minute left to tie the game at 39 heading into the locker room.
The Flying Dutchmen came out on fire and opened the lead to 14 with 14:44 on the clock. The Hornets tried to get the deficit back under 10 over the next seven minutes, but Hope gained its biggest lead of the game at 17 with 7:04 remaining. Kalamazoo did get the Flying Dutchmen lead down to nine, but the visitors held on for the 10-point win.
Kalamazoo shot 35.0% overall compared to Hope's 47.5%. The Hornets made 7 of 25 (28.0%) 3-pointers compared to the Flying Dutchmen's 5 of 18 (27.8%). Kalamazoo went 17 of 24 (70.8%) from the free-throw line compared to Hope's 15 of 21 (71.4%). The Hornets had 39 rebounds compared to the Flying Dutchmen's 38, while Kalamazoo had eight assists on 21 made field goals.
Gabriel Sharp kept the Hornets in the game in the first half with 19 points off the bench and finished with 21 points and three rebounds. In his return from injury, Ty Horky also contributed 14 points off the bench to go along with his three boards and three assists. Lukas Broadsword collected 12 points and five rebounds.
Carter Bandemer grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, and Horky led the team in assists. Lucas Hanifan (8), JJ Stevens (6), Alex Rueff (3), and Bandemer (2) rounded out the Hornets' scoring as the bench scored 52 of the team's 66 points.
Kalamazoo will continue conference play with a road game at Alma on Wednesday (Feb. 7), beginning at 7 p.m.