The Alma College Men's Basketball team kicked off the 2014-15 season on Saturday, traveling to Ohio to take on the Yellow Jackets of Defiance College. The Scots struggled from the field and found themselves down early, eventually losing to Defiance 85-58. 

With the loss, Alma goes to 0-1 to start the season, while the Yellow Jackets get their first win of the year to improve to 1-0

"Obviously, getting off to the start we did put us in a hole we could not dig out of," said Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves. "Right now we have a young team with a long season ahead of us."

Coming off a game against Division I Central Michigan University last night, the Scots struggled to find the range in the first 10 minutes. The home team would capitalize on Alma's shooting woes, building a 24-point lead midway through the first half. 

The Scots were unable to trim the deficit much in the remainder of the half, and they headed into the locker room down 43-22.

Alma shot just 29% in the first half, including 0-5 from beyond the arc. 

The Scots appeared to find their shooting stroke at the beginning of the second half, sinking back-to-back triples to cut the lead to 17 points with 18:41 left.

Despite Alma's best effort to mount a comeback, the Yellow Jackets proved too much down the stretch, defeating the Scots 85-58 at the Karl H. Weaner Center.

Jr. F DJ Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) led Alma with 16 points on five-of-13 shooting. So. F Tyler Edwards (Swartz Creek/Swartz Creek) added nine points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Jr. F Corey Hungerford (Perrinton/Fulton) and Jr. G Scott Nikodemski (Rockford/Rockford) both had eight points on Saturday, with Nikodemski pulling down a team-high four defensive rebounds.

The Scots shot 22-of-62 (35.5%) from the floor and 2-17 (11.8%) from three-point range. Alma collected four steals while forcing seven turnovers.

Alma travels to Spring Arbor University on Tuesday, November 18, for a game set to start at 7:00 p.m.