GAMBIER, Ohio – The Alma College men's basketball team hit the road on Tuesday, November 14th, as they traveled to the Buckeye State for a match up with Kenyon College. The Scots wrote their wrongs from last year and came away with a victory over the Owls by a final score of 69-66.
Kenyon tallied the first score of the game but the Scots would hold them their as they started the game on an 8-0 run after the Kenyon basket to jump out to an early two-possession lead. The Owls would begin to tighten the gap early in the first but the Scots kept causing turnovers, which enabled them to keep their lead. Halfway through the first, Nolan Boffman pickpocketed Sam Lieberman of Kenyon for his fifth steal of the game just ten minutes in and two away from the all-time single game record set in 2000 by Jeff Hosler. The steal led to a Tyshaun Walker jumper that kept the Scots ahead by two. Kenyon would tie the game at 13, but the Scots would again string together a 6-2 run to hold onto their lead. Heading into the final minutes of the first half, the Scots were able to hold the Owls to just nine points in the final six minutes while they were able to put away 16 points to head into the half with an eight-point lead, 35-27.
Walker put Alma on the board first in the second half as he took to the rim and converted on a fast break layup, opening the scoring again. The Scots took their largest lead of the game with 13 minutes left in the game as Gabe Bourdeau was able to knock down a three-pointer, putting Alma up by 14 points. Kenyon would cut into the lead for the next five minutes, but would fail to cut it to single-digits. With eight minutes remaining and coming out of a timeout, Boffman recorded his sixth steal of the game, now within one of the record with eight minutes of gameplay left. Alma struggled to convert on scoring chances for a period in the second half which allowed for Kenyon to bring their deficit to single-digits and give them hope coming down the stretch. The Scots then were able to gets stops and hold their three-possession lead into the three-minute range while trading baskets with the Owls. With just over a minute remaining, Kenyon brought the score to within five causing Alma to call a timeout and discuss their plan to leave town with a win. Connor Riley took the ball to the paint and scored on a layup to put Alma back up seven, with 50 seconds remaining. Following another timeout, Kenyon hit a three to bring the Owls within two just ten seconds later. Riley was then sent to the charity stripe where he knocked down both free throws and giving Alma a six-point lead with 30 seconds remaining. Boffman then tied the 23-year-old steals record with his seventh in clutch time as Kenyon would turn the ball over with 20 seconds left in the game and Boffman ended up with it before being fouled and sent to the line. Boffman would miss the one-and-one and the Owls ran down the floor knocking down a three to bring the game to one-possession with ten seconds left. De'Quan Powell then was sent to the line for the Scots where he knocked down one out of two, giving Alma a four-point lead and making Kenyon need two scored possessions to win the game. Again, Kenyon charged down the floor and found some magic as they hit yet another three to bring the score to within one with two just seconds left before fouling Riley and sending him to the line. Riley knocked both and put the game away, sending the Scots home with their second win in as many games.
Riley led the Scots with 25 points on the night on 8-12 shooting from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc. Walker followed behind with 11 and Donovan Collins came off the bench and scored nine on the night, shooting 3-5 from three. Riley and Walker tied atop for the Scots in the rebounds department with eight apiece. Boffman's seven steals were a game-high and was one short of Kenyon's team total for the game. The Scots were able to score 22 points off of turnovers for the night compared to Kenyon's six.
Alma's next match up will be against Heidelberg at the Lee Pfund Classic hosted by Wheaton College in Illinois. The Scots are set to tip off against the Student Princes at 5:00 PM CST inside the King Arena on the campus of Wheaton.
