NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team's comeback effort came up a little short as the Hornets lost 102-98 in overtime at Manchester University Friday night.
After multiple lead changes early, Kalamazoo held a 22-21 lead with 9:48 left in the first half. Manchester regained the lead and used a 14-2 run to go up 37-24 with 6:15 remaining before taking a 44-36 lead into halftime.
Kalamazoo trailed by as many as 14 points (68-54) with 14:03 left in the second half. The Hornets trailed by 10 (78-68) with 8:42 remaining before chipping away and eventually taking an 87-86 lead on a Bass Ollie 3-pointer with 1:59 left in regulation. After falling behind again Jeremiah Vincent evened the score at 89-89 with 19 seconds remaining before Manchester's final shot was off the mark which sent the game to overtime.
The two teams traded baskets to start the overtime period before Manchester pulled away with a 7-0 run. Kalamazoo was within four (100-96) with 18 seconds left but could not get any closer as time expired with the Hornets trailing 102-98.
Manchester shot 50.7 percent overall while hitting 15-of-38 3-pointers and 15-of-19 free throws. Kalamazoo shot 44.7 percent overall while connecting on 11-of-33 3-pointers and 19-of-23 free throws. Kalamazoo held a 44-39 edge in rebounds, including 14-9 on the offensive end.
Tanner Blyly scored a career-high 38 points on 13-of-20 shooting. He was 4-for-9 on 3-pointers and 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
Bass Ollie scored 17 points with eight rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting and 6-of-7 free throws.
Ben Reiter finished with nine points and nine rebounds while Merritt Hamann and Thomas Cook each scored seven points.
Kalamazoo is back in action Saturday with a 3 p.m. start at Anderson University.