The Alma College Men's basketball team welcomed Adrian College to the Art Smith Arena on Monday evening. The Scots were not the most gracious of hosts, defeating the Bulldogs 90-80 to claim their first home win of the season.

With the victory, Alma improves to 3-13 overall and 2-3 in the MIAA. Adrian drops to 4-13 on the year with a 0-6 mark in conference play.

"We did a good job of grinding this game out and making the plays we needed to," said Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves. "Adrian battled and I am proud of how we responded."

The Scots started off the game by sinking two lay ups to take the 4-0 lead early. The Bulldogs would answer with their own 4-0 run to tie the score at 4-4 at 18:24, before Fr. G Chase Fairchild (Rockford/Rockford) drained a triple to give Alma the 10-6 advantage. Two free throws by So. G Scott Nikodemski (Rockford/Rockford) would extend the Scots lead to double-figures at 21-10 with just under 14 minutes to play in the half.

The Bulldogs would keep the deficit at single digits for a majority of the half but back-to-back three pointers by the Scots would give Alma its biggest lead of the half at 39-25 with just over three minutes to play. The Bulldogs would end the half by knocking down a triple to cut the Scot advantage to 43-37 heading into the locker room.

The frigid weather outside did not stop the Scots from heating it up inside as Alma shot a scorching 60% from the field and 55.6% from beyond the arc.

Fairchild kept his hot hand from the first half and knocked down another triple put Alma up 48-39 with just over 18 minutes to play in half number two. Adrian would not go away quickly and battled back to cut the deficit to three at 50-47 at 14:43. Both teams would exchange blows with Adrian clawing back to take the 61-60 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Two free throws by Sr. G Brandon Krause (Sanford/Meridian) gave Alma the 70-68 lead with just under five to play. Fairchild would strike again from down town at 1:20 to cap a 6-0 Alma run to put the Scots up 80-72.  The final minute became the usual foul-fest seen in such a highly contested battle and Alma came out victorious 90-80.

So. F DJ Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) led five Scots in double figures with 22 points to go along with six boards. Fairchild tallied 21 points on 6-of-7 from deep and Sr. F Isiah Law (Grand Haven/Grand Haven) added 18 points on Monday.

Ben Rodak led the Bulldogs with 22 points and six rebounds.

Alma finished the game shooting 61.4% from the floor and an impressive 58.8% from beyond the arc. Despite the victory, the Scots were out rebounded 35-25 and committed 10 turnovers to just four by Adrian.

Alma is in action again on Wednesday, Jan. 29, when they travel to take on Kalamazoo at 7:30 PM.