San Antonio, Texas - The Alma College men's basketball team suffered an 82-81 setback to Texas Lutheran on Sunday (Dec. 20) afternoon during the final day of the Trinity University Holiday Basketball Classic. The 25th-ranked Bulldogs (7-2 overall) hit the game-winning shot with 7.8 seconds to play to take the lead and complete a second-half comeback and erase a 12-point halftime deficit.

Senior DJ Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) led the Scots (5-4 overall) with 21 points as Alma saw its four-game winning snapped. Senior Scott Nikodemski (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) tied a season-high with 18 points, making six of his eight shots, while sophomore Jason Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) added 11 points.

Sterling Holmes led Texas Lutheran with a game-high 23 points, including 21 in the second half as Texas Lutheran netted 52 points in the final stanza.

The Scots found themselves down by seven points four minutes into the game at 12-5, but climbed back, going on a 17-5 run to take a 22-17 lead with 10:51 left in the first half. Alma led the rest of the stanza and opened up a double-digit lead right before halftime, taking a 42-30 advantage into the break.

Things got tense early in the second half as the Bulldogs opened with an 11-2 run to pull within three at 44-41. Alma held the lead for most of the half until TLU's Micheal Sullivan hit a three-point shot with 3:11 left to give the Bulldogs a 75-73 advantage. DJ Beckman responded with one of his five three-pointers in the game to give the Scots the lead again at 76-75, then Holmes made a layup with 2:21 to go to help the Bulldogs retake the lead at 77-76.

With 2:01 to go, junior Chase Fairchild (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) hit a three to put Alma up 79-77, and DJ Beckman added a layup with 1:26 to go to give the Scots a four-point advantage. Texas Lutheran finished the game with a 5-0 run, converting a three-point play with 1:16 to go before Jordan Kouremetis hit the game winning shot with less than eight seconds in the game.

The Scots outshot the Bulldogs, making 47.5 percent of their shots (29-of-61) as opposed to Texas Lutheran, which shot 40.3 percent (27-of-67) from the field. The Bulldogs out rebounded Alma by a 41-34 margin, including 15 offensive rebounds. Junior Tyler Edwards (Flint, Mich./Swartz Creek) led the Scots with eight rebounds.

After the Christmas break, Alma will travel to DePere, Wis., to take part in the Nicolet National Bank Holiday Tournament, hosted by St. Norbert College. Alma will face Wisconsin-River Falls in the opening round on Tuesday, Dec. 29, and will play either Anderson (Ind.) or the host Green Knights on Wednesday, Dec. 30. 

NOTES

• Alma is 0-3 against teams in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

• Three of the Scots' four losses this season have come by two points or less in the final seconds, including the last two defeats, which were against ranked opponents.

• Tyler Edwards tied a season-high with eight rebounds.

• Scott Nikodemski collected a season-high seven rebounds and scored in double-digits for the eighth time in nine games this season.

• DJ Beckman scored 20 or more points for the second time this season and the 18th time in his career.

• Chase Fairchild matched a season-high with six rebounds.

• Doug Bradfield blocked a season-high four shots and now has 21 for the season, an average of 2.3 per game. Bradfield also moved into sole possession of fourth place on Alma's career blocking chart with 66 career blocks.

QUOTES

Head Coach Sam Hargraves

"This was a really up and down game. The last eight minutes when it really got tight, I thought we played not to lose...and then that's what happened. Our defense in the first half was great. It wasn't for too many parts of the second. They got eight or none offensive rebounds and scored off many of them. They deserved to win because of that."