Men’s basketball team comes up short against Kalamazoo, 67-63

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team came up short against Kalamazoo College, 67-63, tonight at the Cutler Event Center.

Final Score: Kalamazoo 67, Olivet 63
Location: Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Michigan
Records: Kalamazoo 1-1 overall, 1-1 MIAA; Olivet 0-12 overall, 0-2 MIAA

• The Comets opened the game on a 12-0 run. Kalamazoo responded with 10 straight points. Olivet answered with a 5-0 run to make the score 17-10 at the 11:01 mark. The Hornets came back with a 14-2 run over the next four minutes to go up 24-19. Kalamazoo went ahead by five points one more time, 27-22, before the Comets closed the half with a 10-5 spurt to level the score at 32-32 at halftime.
• The Hornets gained a six-point lead, 45-39, with 15:47 remaining in the second half. Olivet chipped away at its deficit and took a one-point lead, 48-47. Kalamazoo went on an 11-3 run to take its largest lead, 58-51, at the 6:43 mark. The Comets did not go away and used a 12-5 spurt to tie the game at 63-63. A layup for the Hornets made the score 65-63 with 1:18 left.
• Olivet missed two baskets before a Comet turnover and foul put Kalamazoo on the free throw line. The Hornets split the two tosses from the charity stripe. After calling a timeout, a game-tying three-pointer was off the mark for Olivet. Kalamazoo made 1-of-2 free throws with 9.6 seconds remaining to seal its win.
• For the game, Olivet shot 40.3 percent (25-of-62) compared to 38.2 percent (21-of-55) for the Hornets. Kalamazoo made one more three-pointer, 10 to 9. The difference in the game was the Hornets canned 15 free throws to four for the Comets.

• Senior Delbert Redfield finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the three-point arc.
• Sophomore Britton Angell and senior Eddie Thigpen each scored 12 points.
• Junior Dane Vos contributed 10 points.
• Junior Derrick Johnson grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.

• Thomas Cook and Merritt Hamann posted double-doubles to lead the Hornets. Cook had 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Hamann had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
• Calder Pellerin finished with 12 points.
• Bobby Samples tallied 10 points.

• Olivet hosts Trine (Ind.) University Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.