In front of an electric crowd inside the Art Smith Arena, the Alma College Men's Basketball team welcomed Calvin College to campus for a huge MIAA showdown. Despite history being on the Knights side, the Scots downed Calvin 87-85 thanks to a last-second teardrop by Jr. G Scott Nikodemski (Rockford/Rockford).

This was the first victory for Alma over Calvin since the 1998-99 season, when Alma Head Coach Sam Hargraves was an assistant coach for the Scots.

"I could not be prouder of the way we battled to get back in this game," said Hargraves. "We have been fighting to get a win like this, we have been close, but to actually do it feels great."

With the win, Alma improves to 6-13 overall and moved to .500 in the MIAA with a 4-4 mark. The Knights drop to 13-6 with the loss and 6-2 in conference play.

The excitement inside the Art Smith Arena was palpable on Saturday afternoon, as both teams would exchange blows early to tie the score at 14-14 with 12:50 left in the first half.

Calvin would score six-straight points to take the 20-14 lead, before extending the advantage to 13, 30-17, with just over seven minutes to play.

The Knights would maintain the 10-plus point cushion for the remainder of the half, before a triple by Jr. G DJ Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) would bring the Scots within eight at 39-31 heading into the locker rooms.

The second half saw the visitors maintain their intensity, pushing the lead up to 17 points, 57-40, with 15:03 remaining in regulation.

At 7:02, with the Scots down 76-60, Beckman made what was thought to be the play of the game for Alma. He intercepted a lazy pass and took it the length of the court where he dropped the hammer down with a dunk to start the momentum shift for the Scots.

Following the Beckman jam, Alma would go on a 15-2 run to come all the way back to tie the score at 78-78 and force overtime.

Beckman kept it rolling in the overtime period, hitting a triple followed by two Nikodemski free throws to put the Scots up 83-78 with 3:48 remaining in the extra frame.

The Knights would battle back and take the lead on a triple before Nikodemski sunk a layup to tie the score at 85-85, to set up one of the most memorable finishes in Art Smith Arena history.

Following a missed three by Calvin, the Scots called timeout with just four seconds remaining and the ball under their own basket.

Following the timeout, Alma ran a series of picks to free Nikodemski who would take it the length of the court and sink a foul-line jumper with zeroes on the board to give the Scots the historic 87-85 victory at home.

Alma shot 33-of-67 (49.3%) from the floor and 10-of-21 (47.6%) from beyond the arc. Despite being outrebounded 53-32, the Scots managed to win the turnover battle 15-10, turning those 15 Calvin turnovers into 14 points.

Nikodemski was the hero on Saturday evening, finishing the game with a career-high 29 points. Beckman added 15 points, while Fr. F Doug Bradfield (Mason/Mason) chipped in with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Off the bench, Fr. G Jason Beckman (Shelby/Shelby) contributed 10 points and four assists in 36 minutes.

The Scots will look to make it three-in-a-row when they travel to Albion College on Wednesday, Feb. 4, for a game set to tip at 6:00 p.m.