KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team hosted Albion in an MIAA home matchup on Wednesday night (Jan. 11). The Hornets and Britons battled for 40 minutes, but it was Albion who came out on top 67-60.
Albion controlled the pace for the first six and a half minutes of the ball game, jumping out to an 11-4 lead. Then, Kalamazoo started chipping away, cutting the deficit to two with 11 minutes on the clock. After the Britons got the lead back out to seven, the Hornets went on a 13-2 run to grab the advantage and take a four-point lead with 4:30 remaining. Albion scored its 28th point with 3:27 until halftime, and then Kalamazoo clamped down defensively by not letting them score again before the break. This allowed the Hornets to lead 32-28 heading into the locker room.
Kalamazoo continued to be the aggressor coming out of the break, extending its lead up to 10 at the 13:02 mark. Unfortunately, Albion went on a 12-2 run to tie the game up at 48 with 8:19 remaining in the contest. Then, the Britons grabbed the lead for the final time a couple of minutes later to ultimately take the seven-point win.
DJ Courtney led the way with 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Josh Decker also had double figures in the scoring column with 11. Ty Horky, Addison Atwater, and Bobby Samples all finished with five rebounds a piece.
Rounding out the scoring for the Hornets was JJ Stevens (8), Caleb Caul (6), Nicholas Olmeda (5), Trey Bolling (5), Horky (4), Atwater (3), and Samples (3). Albion shot 46.6% (27-58) from the field compared to Kalamazoo's 36.7% (22-60). In addition, the Hornets finished with more assists (15-13) and steals (7-5), while the Britons had more rebounds (43-32) and blocks (3-2).
Kalamazoo will continue MIAA play with another home game in the Anderson Athletic Center on Saturday (Jan. 14), hosting Trine at 3 p.m.