Albion, ranked No. 3 in the country, won its 14th consecutive game to improve to 14-1, 5-0 in the MIAA. Kalamazoo fell to 5-11 and 2-3.
“It was important that we won, but we didn’t do a very good job of playing the way that we can play,” Albion coach Mike Turner said. “We need to play better than we were last Wednesday.”
On that night the Britons defeated then-No. 2 Hope College in a rout and everybody was praising Albion, but Turner knows the Britons need to improve if they want to take care of Calvin College—which is tied with Hope for second place in the league behind Albion—on Saturday afternoon.
“We need to get better, we weren’t very good tonight,” Turner said.
NCAA Player-of-the-Year candidate Brandon Crawford led Albion as he has for most of the season, scoring 28 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field. He entered the contest shooting a scorching 70.7 percent.
Crawford was Albion’s lone player who took more than two shots and shot 50 percent or better. Senior guard Mike Bailey added 11 points, including two 3-pointers and junior center Evan Way scored seven points and grabbed seven boards.
Rebounding was the main reason the Britons were able to hold off the Hornets. The Britons held a 41-26 advantage on the glass and brought down 11 offensive boards. As a result they scored 22 second-chance points to just 10 for the Hornets.
Kalamazoo jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, but six points by Crawford and a layup by Way quickly put the Britons ahead for good 8-6 just 4 minutes into the contest. After the Hornets tied it at 8-8, Albion went on a 14-0 run to take a 22-8 lead at the 10:24 mark of the half. Senior forward Garrett Gibbons sparked the spurt with a 3 and a midrange jumper.
Kalamazoo, however, stayed within striking distance, getting within seven at 24-17 before Albion outscored the Hornets 12-9 the rest of the half to take a 36-24 halftime advantage.
The Britons couldn’t put the Hornets away until the final minutes, three times allowing their lead to be cut to three points.
With Albion holding a 45-36 advantage with 13 minutes left, Kalamazoo scored six consecutive points to cut its deficit to 45-42. After an Albion timeout, the Britons responded with a lob pass to Crawford for a layup and a 3-pointer by Bailey to make it 50-42.
But again the Britons could not stretch the lead, allowing Kalamazoo to cut it to 52-49 with 5:30 to play and 58-55 with 2:32 remaining. The Hornets had a chance to tie the game, but Kyle Konwinski’s 3-pointer attempt was off the mark.
“I thought we had plenty of chances to put it away,” Turner said.
The Britons made six of 10 free throws in the final minute-and-a-half to close the deal.
Pat Clancy led Kalamazoo with 19 points, including 11 in the first half when he was the only Hornet with any kind of offensive rhythm. Konwinski added 11 points for the Hornets.
Albion’s Saturday home game with Calvin is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Knights enter the contest 11-5, 4-1 in the league. Join Mike Moore and Jake Lloyd for the radio broadcast at 2:30 p.m. by logging onto http://media.albion.edu/sports .
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE (5-11; 2-3 MIAA) Pat Clancy 7-15 2-2 19; Kyle Konwinski 5-12 0-0 11; Tim Herman 3-5 0-0 8; Thomas Greer 2-3 0-0 5; Henry McCain 2-5 0-0 4; Brad Brinkman 2-9 0-0 4; Damon Krohn 1-3 0-0 3; Roger Garfield 0-1 2-2 2; Mat Kellogg 1-3 0-0 2; Adam Bezemek 0-1 0-0 0; Phil Weaver 0-1 0-0 0; Jon Matych 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 4-4 58. ALBION COLLEGE (14-1; 5-0 MIAA) Brandon Crawford 9-12 10-14 28; Mike Bailey 3-7 3-4 11; Evan Way 2-2 3-4 7; Garrett Gibbons 3-9 0-0 7; D.J. Mocini 1-1 3-3 5; Zak Silas 2-13 0-0 4; Drew Yancey 1-3 0-0 2; Rick Palmer 0-1 0-2 0; Jim Cash 0-2 0-0 0; Andrew Ruddick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 19-27 64. Kalamazoo College............. 24 34 - 58 Albion College................ 36 28 - 64 3-point goals-Kalamazoo College 8-23 (Pat Clancy 3-9; Tim Herman 2-3; Kyle Konwinski 1-5; Thomas Greer 1-2; Damon Krohn 1-2; Henry McCain 0-2), Albion College 3-18 (Mike Bailey 2-4; Garrett Gibbons 1-7; Zak Silas 0-4; Drew Yancey 0-1; Jim Cash 0-2). Fouled out--Kalamazoo College-None, Albion College-None. Rebounds-Kalamazoo College 26 (Brad Brinkman 7), Albion College 41 (Brandon Crawford 15). Assists-Kalamazoo College 16 (Pat Clancy 4), Albion College 15 (Evan Way 3; Zak Silas 3). Total fouls-Kalamazoo College 23, Albion College 11. A-436