GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College men's basketball team played its second nationally-ranked MIAA team in #21 Calvin on Wednesday night (Jan. 18). Traveling north, the Hornets put up a good fight against one of the top teams in the conference. However, in a game with eight lead changes and six ties, it was the Knights who ended up winning 74-65.
The teams battled and had four lead changes and three ties in the first four minutes of the ball game. Then, Calvin's 10-3 run opened their lead up to nine points at the 11:39 mark. Outside of those five minutes, the contest was evenly matched as the closest the Hornets got was within four points. The Knights' biggest lead was 10 points, which was the difference at the half.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Calvin pushed its lead out to 20 points. A 14-3 run by the Hornets got the deficit back to single digits, with 12 of the 14 points coming from downtown. For the rest of the game, the teams traded baskets and Kalamazoo outscored the Knights in the second half. Unfortunately, Calvin held a nine-point advantage at the final buzzer.
The Hornets had four players finish the game with double digits points in Addison Atwater (12), Ty Horky (11), Josh Decker (10), and JJ Stevens (10). Stevens was the leading rebounder with seven while also tying DJ Courtney and Bobby Samples for a team-high three assists.
Rounding out the scoring for the Hornets was Samples (8), Caleb Caul (7), Courtney (5), and Trey Bolling (2). Calvin shot the ball at a 44.6% (25-56) rate compared to Kalamazoo's 42.9% (24-56). The Hornets held a slight advantage from beyond the arc, making 34.6% (9-26) of their attempts, as the Knights had a 34.4% (11-32) percentage. Calvin ended up with more rebounds (40-34) and assists (19-14). There were only 13 turnovers in the game, as the Knights had seven and the Hornets had six.
Kalamazoo will continue MIAA play by hosting Olivet on Saturday (Jan. 21), beginning at 3 p.m.