Men’s basketball team defeated by Kalamazoo, 59-47

The Olivet College men's basketball team was defeated by Kalamazoo College, 59-47, tonight in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) game at the Upton Center in Olivet.

In the first half, the Comets (6-18, 2-11 MIAA) led by as many as seven points on three occasions. The last time was 13-6 at the 9:32 mark when freshman Eric McCoy (Charlotte) made a jump shot. The Hornets' (10-14, 7-6 MIAA) only lead of the half was 21-20 at halftime.

Back-to-back three-pointers led to a 26-21 Olivet lead with 18:27 left in the second half. Kalamazoo scored seven straight points to go up by two points with just over 16 minutes remaining. Over the next five minutes, the game was back and forth with neither team leading by more than three points. The Hornets took the lead for good at the 10:49 mark when Mat Kellogg made a basket. The closest that the Comets would get was one point at the 5:51 mark.

Senior Steve Johnson (Detroit/Murray Wright) came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points. Senior De'Andre Pruitt (River Rouge) tallied 10 points and now stands 10th all-time at Olivet with 1,022 career points. Pruitt and sophomore Jeff Cooper (Dowagiac) grabbed five rebounds each.

Kalamazoo's Kyle Konwinski finished with a game-high 22 points. Kellog contributed 12 points and seven rebounds. Pat Clancy also had seven rebounds.

Olivet concludes the 2005-06 regular season Saturday, Feb. 18 when it plays a 3 p.m. game at Albion College.