The Alma Men's Basketball team concluded their Thanksgiving tournament on Saturday when the played host Spalding University. The Scots dropped a 65-54 decision to the Golden Eagles in the third place game and are now 2-4 on the 2011-2012 season.

"Today was the first game we didn't really compete as hard as we need to," said Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves. "It was a classic example of a day two let down after a pretty competitive effort the night before. Our opponent today was too good to expect to win playing that way. We have a lot to work on defensively."

Poor shooting in the first half put the Scots into a hole from which they could not escape. After a 2-2 score early, Alma found themselves down by 17, at 24-7 with 8:07 remaining. Even though the visitors kept fighting, the score after the first 20 minutes favored Spalding by a mark of 32-20.

As was the night before, Alma came out much more determined in the second half and twice cut the deficit to six points on buckets by Sr. F Tommy Erickson (Escanaba, Mich./Escanaba), the last being 42-36 on a dunk at 11:48. However, the closest the Scots could come was at 47-42, when Sr. G Cory Schneider (Carson City, Mich./Carson City-Crystal) hit two free throws with 9:17 left in the game.

However, the Golden Eagles scored the next eight points in the following two minutes to put a clamp down on the Scots' comeback attempt. From that point, the home team methodically went about business and was able to walk off the court with the 65-54 victory.

Schneider led the Scots with 13 points, followed by So. F Sean Clancy (Port Austin, Mich./North Huron) with 12 and Erickson with 11 total points. Alma's next game is on December 6 at Ferris State University.

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