Box Score KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Calvin men's basketball team pushed its win streak to five games after a road conference win over Kalamazoo with a final score of 83-65 on Monday evening.
The win was Calvin's first at Kalamazoo's Anderson Athletic Center since 2015. At 13-6 overall and 6-2 in the MIAA, the Knights are now tied for second place in the MIAA standings with Albion, a half game back of 6-1 Hope.
Monday's game was originally scheduled for January 19 but was moved twice due to Covid-19 protocols.
Monday's game was a close contest in the first seven minute, as the Knights had a slight lead of 10-9 after a made layup by senior Alec Fruin (Beloit, WI / Turner).
Kalamazoo started to get things going offensively as it rattled off a 9-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. The Knights began cutting into the deficit and a steal and score by Uchenna Egekeze (Huntly, IL / Huntley) made it 23-22 with seven minutes left in the first half.
Calvin regained the lead after a 10-3 run which was capped off by a steal and score by Luke Morrison (Bristol, IN / Northridge) to give the Knights a 33-25 lead. The Knights ended the first half with a 3-pointer by Morrison just before the buzzer to take a 39-34 advantage into halftime.
Morrison led Calvin in scoring at halftime with an impressive 21 points by shooting 8-12 (66.7%) from the field and 3-6 (50%) from three. The Knights shot 14-25 (56%) from the field and 4-13 (30.8%) from three-point range in the first half. They outrebounded the Hornets 13-12 on the glass and had six steals as well.
Both teams came out of the halftime putting up points quickly, but the Knights still had a lead of 52-44 after a made layup by Thad Shymanski (Ada, MI / Grand Rapids Christian). Calvin began to pull away as it went on another 9-3 run capped off by a made jumper by senior Jordan Katje (Kalamazoo, MI / Kalamazoo Christian) to lead 61-47.
The Hornets struggled to have any answers for the Knights down the stretch. Calvin was in control after a made 3-pointer by Morrison to put Calvin up 75-55 with 5:52 remaining. Calvin controlled the rest of the game and extended its win streak to five with a final score of 83-56.
Morrison was the leading scorer for the Knights with a career-high 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds as well. Sophomore Marcus Bult (Wheaton, IL / Wheaton Academy) ended the night with 14 points while Shymanski was in double digits with 11 points.
Calvin shot 32-56 (57.1%) from the field and finished 11-28 (39.3%) from the three-point line. The Knights also outrebounded the Hornets 30-23 on night and finished with 14 total assists.
With his 11 points, Shymanski boosted his career scoring total of 1,138 points, moving him past Kyle VanderBrug and into 17th place on the Calvin career scoring list.
COACHES COMMENT: "– I thought our defensive effort in the second half was really good," said Calvin head men's basketball coach Bill Sall. "We received a great defensive effort from (senior) Jordan Katje. He helped us get some key defensive stops and he grabbed some big rebounds. Marcus Bult hit some big shots off the bench and of course Luke (Morrison) had a great game – on both sides of the ball. This was a solid league win. Kalamazoo made us work. They have a good young team. They made us earn it tonight."
UP NEXT: The Knights will play Kalamazoo again at home on Wednesday nightwith tipoff set for 8 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.
