A night after the Lynx defeated Knox College; Rhodes used a strong effort to beat Kalamazoo College for the championship of the 2012 Crowne Plaza Christmas Invitational.  The Lynx came out tough early as they opened up the game 11-1 over the Kalamazoo Hornets.  Senior Andrew Galow was unstoppable for the Lynx in transition knocking on an early pair of and ones.  Galow finished with a team-high 18 points, chipping in with 6 assists and 6 rebounds as well.  Rhodes slowly grew the lead to 17 by halftime and pushed it to 32 with 11:32 remaining, finally defeating the Hornets 89 to 68.

Rhodes used their defensive stops to get out in transition and punish the Hornets defense early.  Senior Andrew Galow attacked the paint, while Junior guard Patrick McGrail was deadly from downtown.  McGrail connected on five threes, four of which were in the first half.  McGrail finished the night with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting.  The first half defensive for the Lynx remained solid holding Kalamazoo to 25 points on 40% shooting to take a 42 to 25 lead.

Kalamazoo came out strong early in the second half but was never able to cut the lead below double digits.  The Lynx patient attack forced the Hornets to guard the whole floor resulting in Rhodes shooting 74% in the second half.  With 11:23 left the Lynx pushed the lead to a game-high 32 points and cruised to victory from there. 

Four Lynx scored in double figures, with Junior Mike Gallagher and Sophomore Ryan Van Hoeck adding 11 and 12 respectively, joining Galow and McGrail.  Rhodes shot 57% for the game and had a season-high 23 assists on the night.  The Hornets were led by Mark Ghafari who finished the night with 22 points.

The win crowns the Lynx the 2012 Crowne Plaza Christmas Invitational Champions and pushes them to 5-4 on the season.  Rhodes will be back in action next weekend as they face the University of Texas-Tyler and Austin at home, Saturday and Sunday December 29th and 30th.