Lisle, Ill. - The historic season for the Alma College men's basketball team came to an end on Saturday (March 12) night as the Scots fell to No. 2 Benedictine University, 93-73, in the sectional finals of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The host Eagles, now 30-0 on the season, led the the majority of the game to hand Alma its first loss since February 17. Alma finishes the season with a 24-7 record, marking the most wins in school history.

Sophomore Jason Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) led the Scots with a game-high 23 points while senior Scott Nikodemski (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) netted 13 points. Senior DJ Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) also contributed 11 points in his final game as a Scot. 

The first half was all Eagles as Benedictine hit eight three pointers behind 8-for-12 shooting behind the arc. Benedictine used a 12-0 after the second media timeout to take a 17-point lead, then used another 10-0 run late in the half to enter the break up by 19 at 44-25. Jason Beckman scored 11 points in the half as the Scots were held to the worst shooting performance of the first half all season, making just 25.7 percent of their shots.

In the second half, the Eagles extended their lead and had an answer for every time Alma tried to mount a comeback attempt. The Scots tried to claw back into the game, but the lead was too much to overcome. The Scots shot over 50 percent in the second half but could not outpace Benedictine.

The Eagles outshot the Scots for the game, 56.1 percent to 41.8 percent, but Benedictine was 70.8 percent from behind the arc, making 17 of their 24 three-point shots. Michael Blaszczyk led the Eagles with 20 points, while Lucas Johnson recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Sophomore Kevin Gamble (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Sacred Heart) paced Alma on the glass with eight rebounds. 

Benedictine will now advance to face Amherst in the national semifinals, which will take place on Friday, March 18, in Salem, Va. The other semifinal will feature St. Thomas (Minn.) versus Christoper Newport. The championship game will be played on Saturday, March 19.

QUOTES

Head Coach Sam Hargraves

"Offensively they were phenomenal and every bit of the credit goes to them. For a year and a half we've been worried that if we play a 2-3 zone, somebody's going to have a night sometime, and it took quite a while for it to happen. That's total credit to them. On top of that, with what they did, we picked our worst night to just have a bad shooting night. We did what we do, and we got open, and I thought we got looks the first 10-15 minutes. We knew we would have to score with them. They are a phenomenal scoring team and a phenomenal passing team. As we kept missing, maybe we let down a little bit defensively with some of the movement, hard to keep the confidence up, maybe we started to rush a little bit with some of our shots, and so it goes. They shot the ball unbelievable but they also passed the ball really well and are an incredibly unselfish team. That's what you have to do against us."