On Saturday night, the Alma College men's basketball team hosted Olivet College at the Art Smith Arena for an important MIAA tilt. The Scots were defeated by the Comets by a come-from-behind score of 87-80.

"Olivet poses some matchup problems for us," remarked Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves. "We're used to being the smaller team and we can get by sometimes with our finesse versus bigger teams. Tonight we had to be physically tougher and that's something we were not very good at in this game. When perimeter shots don't go in we have to find another way to score. Defensively we did a poor job defending the dribble and the post."

The first half was competitive throughout although Alma held a slim lead for most of the frame. Olivet has just two leads in the half - 4-2 at the 18:59 mark and 24-23 with 5:54 left - and there were seven ties between the two teams.

Alma's biggest lead of the first half was at five points, 29-24, after So. G Brandon Trefil (Perrinton/Fulton) hit two free throws at the 2:50 mark. But, for the most part, the game was a two or three point contest through the first 20 minutes.

The Scots shot a respectable 41% (14 of 34) from the field in the first half, but made just one of 12 three-point attempts, while the Comets hit on 12 of 32 shot attempts (38%) and made one of five from beyond the arc.

Olivet took a 34-33 lead 35 seconds into the second half, but the Scots regained the lead and were up 37-34 after two free throws by So. F DJ Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) at the 18:40 mark. From there, the two teams see-sawed with the lead and were deadlocked at 47-47 with 13:29 left in the game.

It was at this point of the contest that the visitors took a bit of control of the game and swung the momentum to their favor. They scored the next five points to lead 52-47 and still led by seven, at 64-57, at the 7:38 mark.

The Scots cut the deficit to three at 68-65 a little over two minutes later after a made free throw by So. G Scott Nikodemski (Rockford/Rockford). But, that was as close as Alma would be able to get for the remainder of the game.

The Comets pushed back Alma's surge and extended their advantage to 78-70 at the 2:58 mark. For all intents and purposes, that little run was all that the visitors needed to put them in line for the win. After two free throws by Nikodemski made it 80-74 with 1:02 left, Olivet pushed the lead back to nine before ultimately walking off the hardwood with the 87-80 road victory.

Nikodemski led all Alma scorers with 21 points, while two other Scots were in double figures - Sr. F Isiah Law (Grand Ledge/Grand Ledge) who had 18 and Sr. G Brandon Krause (Sanford/Meridian) who finished with 16. Beckman had a team-high seven rebounds and added two assists and three blocked shots.

Up next for the Scots is the first of four consecutive road games when they travel to Trine University on Wednesday evening. Tip-off in Angola is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.