DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Alma College men's basketball team rounded out 2024 with a road trip to Iowa for the Loras Holiday Classic on December 28th and 29th, facing off against Loras College and Central College (IA). The Scots were defeated in both games on the trip, first to Loras, 76-52 and to Central, 77-60.
In the first game of the road trip, Loras jumped out to an early lead, putting the Scots down multiple possessions throughout the first half. Alma was able to tighten the Duhawks lead down to five in the later minutes of the half, though Loras would continue to convert offensively. Loras held a 37-28 lead heading into the second half over the Scots.
Loras was able to pick up where they eft off from the first half as the Scots deficit grew to 18 early on in the second. Alma again would find some success on offense to narrow the Duhawks lead, but a game of runs would favor Loras throughout much of the half. The Scots would ultimately trade baskets in the final minutes with Loras, which led to the final score, 76-52 in favor of Loras.
Freshman Raine Rodich led the scoring for Alma with 13 points followed by Jeremy Rosario who notched ten of his own. Rosario also collected eight rebounds for the team-high along with Noah Cutler dishing out two assists to lead the team.
In the second and final game of the trip, Alma faced off against the Dutch of Central College. Central would jump out to the first lead of the game before the Scots would tie the game and create a back-and-forth contest for several minutes. Alma saw their first lead of the season around the 13-minute mark as Korbin Heitzman would knock down a jumper to put Alma up two. The back-and-forth of trading baskets would continue for the remainder of the first half as neither team could gather a multiple possession lead, though the Scots would make the final basket of the half with seconds left on the clock to head into halftime with a 34-33 lead.
Coming out of the half, Central would score the first points and regain the lead. A 10-0 run by the Dutch would put the Scots down nine five minutes into the half. The Dutch of central would not look back after taking the lead as Alma would struggle to bring the deficit within single-digits for most of the remainder of the second half. Alma's offense would slow down in the final minutes of play, leading to a 77-60 loss to Central College to round out the trip to Iowa.
Rosario would lead the Scots in game two of the weekend notching 22 points, followed by Josh Elliott who scored 14. Rosario also led the team in rebounds with seven along with a game-high four blocks in the contest.
Alma will now return home and focus towards conference play to open up 2025 as they will face off against Adrian College on January 8th, at Adrian. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 PM on Wednesday.
