ANGOLA, Ind. – The Alma College men's basketball team faced off against their second straight ranked opponent, this time with #3 Trine University, on Saturday, February 3rd. The Scots started slow and gave a second half push, but were defeated by the current MIAA leader by a final score of 88-76.
Trine jumped out to an early lead scoring the first three baskets of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Alma jumped up on the board after a Connor Riley three to cut the lead nearly in half, four minutes into the game. The Scots would trail the thunder after the Riley basket by a couple possessions until the nine-minute mark before the Thunder went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to double-digits. Alma kept hanging around but the Thunder again put together a 14-3 run to pace themselves for the rest of the first half, keeping space from the Scots. Alma headed into the half trailing 51-30.
The Scots opened the scoring in the second half and scored often early. Trine would also find ways to convert on offense so the Scots struggled to chip away at the deficit. Around the halfway mark of the second half, Alma knocked the deficit down to the low double-digits, but the Thunder kept finding ways to make clutch buckets to slow the Scots offense pace back down. In the final five minutes, the Scots offense made a last attempt and pushed the Thunder lead down to nine with just under four minutes left to play. The cots would not be able to get the score any closer watching the final ticks of the clock disappear, even though they would outscore the Thunder in the second half, 46-37. The slow first half proved to be too much to overcome as the Scots would drop the contest to their second consecutive ranked opponent in conference play.
Riley would lead the way for the Scots in the scoring department with 18, just one more than his teammate Donovan Collins, who scored 17 on 5-10 shooting from behind the arc. Colton Meister led the Scots in rebounds with nine in the contest, four of which came offensively. Gabe Bourdeau dished the ball around the court throughout the game and finished with five assists to lead Alma. Collins also racked up four steals in the contest. The Scots bench was able to outscore the Thunder bench by a large margin, 33-4.
Alma now looks forward to a Wednesday night matchup with the Hornets of Kalamazoo College, in a game that will have implications heading towards the MIAA Tournament. The game is slated to start at 7:30 PM inside Art Smith Arena on the campus of Alma College.
