McMINNVILLE, Ore. – In an early evening game in Oregon and late-night game for the eastern time zone, the Alma College men's basketball team returned to game play after a couple weeks break. The Scots took on the Wildcats of Linfield University and slow shooting ultimately was the difference as Linfield took care of the Scots 67-44 in their first game out west.
Alma would score the first points of the game off a Raine Rodich free-throw, though the Wildcats would score the first field goal. Alma was held scoreless from the field until the 17:30 mark, where Logan St. Martin removed the lid off the basket and put the Scots in the make column. The Scots were able to match the early Linfield makes to trade leads between the teams. A 13-2 run from the home team over a six-minute span almost brought the Scots deficit to double-digits in the first half before Alma would find a stretch of offense again. Linfield would take advantage of the shooting cold shooting throughout the first half, leading to a double-digit lead over the Midwest travelers they would take into halftime, 34-17.
Hoping to knock the possible jet lag off and bring the game back closer in favor of the Scots, Alma started the second half with a 5-0 run in the first three minutes. Linfield matched the visitors run with one of the own immediately following to bring their lead back to where it started for the half. The Scots would continue to chip away at their deficit at hand as Linfield would find much needed spurts of offense that limited the comeback bid. Growing their lead to a comfortable twenty plus points, the Wildcats ended up limiting a cold Alma offense for the night and pulled away down the stretch for a 67-44 win.
Korbin Heitzman, the Idaho and west coast native, led the Scots with 17 points for the opening night of their trip. St. Martin was the team-high in rebounds with five while Elijah Sykes collected a team leading two assists. Josh Elliott made two blocks in the game as well.
Alma will return to the hardwood just 24 hours later as they will compete their second game of a back-to-back against Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 PM PT, 8:00 PM ET.
