A rare treat for fans of Alma College Men's Basketball and Division III hoops in general happened on Wednesday afternoon. The Scots hosted #3 ranked University of Wisconsin Whitewater in a non-league game at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons.

Alma was not intimidated by the surroundings or the opponent as they played a very spirted contest against the Warhawks. The visitors from Wisconsin used a late little spurt to pull away from the pesky Scots and came away with a very hard-fought 84-71 victory.

The Scots are now 0-5 on the 2014-15 season, as their record does not match their effort or reflect the quality of opponent they have faced thus far. UWW is now 4-1 on the young season after today's win.

"They are a very talented team and we know that, but we are slowly making progress," said Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves. "We needed to compete for a ful 40 minutes to have a chance. We knew we couldn't let big runs happen and we did. There is much room for improvement, and since there is, I'm not too unhappy with the final score."

After the opening tip, Jr. G Scott Nikodemski (Rockford/Rockford) made the game's first bucket and the Scots had a 2-0 lead. UWW scored the next seven and built a 10-4 lead before Alma went on a 8-1 run that culminated with a three-pointer by Fr. G Jason Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) and a 12-11 advantage at the 13:27 mark of the half.

The Warhawks forged back ahead by margins of 19-12 and then 22-14 with 10:47 remaining in the first frame. UWW led 26-17 at 8:36 before Alma scored seven in a row to cut the deficit to 26-24 on a three-point basket by Jr. F DJ Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) with 7:52 left.

Wisconsin Whitewater went back ahead 31-24 before two free throws by Jr. F Ethan Woelke (Keego Harbor/Orchard Lake St. Mary's) made it a 31-29 contest at the 3:57 mark. The two teams then basically exchanged baskets the rest of the half and UWW went into the break with a 43-36 advantage.

The Scots scored the first five points of the second frame, the last two on a three-pointer by So. F Tyler Edwards (Swartz Creek/Swartz Creek) to make it a 43-41 game. The Warhawks would regroup and go on a 17-5 run to take 58-48 advantage with 14:24 remaining in the contest.

Again, Alma would fight back and closed to within five at 64-59 on a jumper by So. G Chase Fairchild (Rockford/Rockford) at the 9:52 mark. However, the Warhawks scored the next five to lead 69-59 and it became an uphill climb for the Scots for the last 7:34 of the contest. The Scots still trailed by just eight at 73-65 with 4:12 left when Fairchild put in a lay-up.

But, that is the closest the Scots would come the rest of the way. Wisconsin-Whitewater opened up a lead of 15 points before settling into the margin of 13, 84-71, at the final buzzer.

The leading scorer for Alma was Jason Beckman with 16, while Fairchild was next with 12 points. In all, 10 Scots players scored in the contest and as a team, they shot 49% (29 of 59), including nine of 27 (33%) from beyond the arc. DJ Beckman had a team-high six rebounds, while Fairchild and Nikodemski each had four assists in the loss.

The next game for the Scots is on December 3 when the travel to Chicago to take on North Park University (IL). Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Michigan time.