HOLLAND, Mich. – The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team fell at Hope College by a score of 71-55 Saturday afternoon.
The Hornets started strong, and after Ty Horky's three-pointer found the bottom of the bucket with 15:40 remaining in the first half, the Hornets found themselves with a 10-5 lead. The home team steadied itself and scored the game's next 13 points, before Lukas Broadsword's bucket snapped the run and brought the Hornets to within six, 18-12, with 9:30 left before halftime.
K's DJ Courtney sank a three-pointer that brought the Hornets to within 18-15 with 8:11 remaining, but Hope outscored Kalamazoo 14-10 the rest of the way to take a 32-25 lead into the locker room.
Courtney's three-pointer with 17:13 left in the game whittled the Flying Dutchmen's lead down to six, 36-30, but that was as close as K would get. Hope stretched the lead to as much as 18 points before the final buzzer.
Courtney led Kalamazoo with 16 points and added five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Broadsword added eight points, while Nicholas Olmeda, Gabriel Sharp and Chris Cayton each tallied seven. Addison Atwater registered team-highs in rebounds (six) and assists (four).
Hope, which claimed the outright MIAA league title with the victory, finished the game with advantages in overall shooting (44-37%), three-point shooting (41-28%), rebounds (46-29), assists (14-9) and blocks (7-0). Each team swiped seven steals, but Kalamazoo had just nine turnovers to Hope's 12.
Next up for the Hornets (5-20, 2-12 MIAA) is the first round of the MIAA tournament next week, when they will face a to-be-determined opponent.