KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team kicked off its Holiday Classic by hosting Finlandia on Wednesday evening (Dec. 21). After an offensive-driven first half, the Hornet defense clamped down to only allow 12 points in the second. That effort turned into a 108-59 win for Kalamazoo, tied for the most points scored in a game since the last 100-plus point game from Jan. 15, 2020, against Olivet.
Both teams came out hot in the first half, as the combined field goal percentage was 60%. There were seven lead changes in the first 20 minutes, and the game was also tied up another four times. DJ Courtney came out aggressive, scoring 16 points by making 7-8 field goals, including a three-point bucket and a free throw. Caleb Caul was another main contributor with nine points on a perfect 3-3 from the field and three free throws. In the middle of the half, Kalamazoo went on a 10-3 run to push its lead to eight points, which was the largest in the first stanza. The teams traded buckets, but the Hornets did not relinquish the lead after that run and held a five-point lead at the break.
The second half is when the defense locked down by only allowing five points for the first 15 minutes. During that time, Kalamazoo outscored Finlandia 41-5 to blow the gates open. There were 15 different players that scored at least a point for the Hornets in the half, with Ty Horky leading the way with eight. As a team, nine of the 20 field goals in the second half were from long range. Ultimately, Kalamazoo won by 49 points over the Lions.
Courtney finished with a team-high 18 points and seven assists to lead the charge. Horky finished with 12 points off the bench to go along with his four rebounds. Leading the team on the boards was Sam Coleman with seven and collecting them all in the second half.
Rounding out the scoring for the Hornets was Caul (9), Bobby Samples (9), Carter Bandemer (9), Josh Decker (8), Alex Rueff (7), Lukas Broadsword (6), Jack Wheeler (6), Addison Atwater (5), Lucas Hanifan (5), Nicholas Olmeda (4), JJ Stevens (4), Dougie Blackwood (3), Gabriel Sharp (2), and Trey Bolling (1). Kalamazoo shot the ball at a 52.6% (40-76) clip compared to Finlandia's 38.6% (22-57). The Hornets also shot the ball well from downtown at 39.5% (15-38).
Kalamazoo dominated the game as the team finished with more rebounds (53-32), assists (24-8), steals (15-8), and blocks (5-1), while Finlandia finished with more turnovers (23-13). The Hornets also held advantages in the second chance points (19-3), points in the paint (50-26), fastbreak points (19-2), and bench points (58-18) departments.
Kalamazoo will wrap up its 2022 portion of the schedule in the second game of the Holiday Classic against DePauw on Thursday (Dec. 22) at 12 p.m. in the Anderson Athletic Center.