ALMA MEN'S HOOPS LOSES TO TRINE 76-58
Alma College's Men's Basketball team hit the road on Saturday afternoon to play Trine University in an MIAA tilt, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 76-58 ballgame. The Scots dropped to 3-7 in league play and 5-15 overall, while the Thunder improved to 2-8 in the MIAA and 6-15 for the 2008-09 season.
Trine hit the ground running from the opening tip as they built leads of 7-0 (15:25 mark) and 28-9 (7:57 mark), carrying those leads to a halftime advantage of 40-16 over Alma. The Thunder shot a whopping 65% from the field (15 of 23), including eight of 12 from behind the arc, while the Scots hit just 19% of their shots (six of 32) and just two of 15 on three-point attempts.
The second half did not prove to be much better for the visiting Scots, as Trine was able to maintain and then extend their lead to 30 points, at 64-34, midway through the second half. Alma showed grit and gutted out a 24-12 advantage the remainder of the game to account for the 18-point margin of victory for the Thunder.
Alma shot 38% (15 of 40) in the final frame and finished the game at 29% (21-72), including five of 32 from beyond the arc. The home Thunder finished the contest at 51% (28 of 55), including 15 of 27 on three-point attempts (56%) after shooting 41% (13 0f 32) in the second half. Trine outrebounded Alma by a margin of 43-37, but for a second consecutive game, Alma did a nice job of ball control, finishing with only nine turnovers to 15 for Trine.
Sr. F Matt Brown (Midland, MI/Midland) led all Alma scorers with 15 points, while Sr. F Ryan DeHaan (Rockford, MI/Rockford) added 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Jr. C Sam Machuta added seven rebounds for the Scots, while Fr. F Terry Brown (Chicago, IL/De LaSalle) notched a team-best three assists on the afternoon.
Next up for Alma is an away game with league rival Adrian College on Wednesday evening, with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
Posted: Sat, February 7th, 2009 at 4:41PM

