ALMA MEN'S BASKETBALL LOSES TO HOPE IN FIRST ROUND OF MIAA TOURNAMENT
On Wednesday evening, the Alma Men’s Basketball team, seeded sixth, traveled to Holland, to take on the third seeded Hope Flying Dutchmen in the opening round of the 2009 MIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Alma’s season ended after dropping a very hard-fought game to Hope by a score of 83-66, a contest that saw the Flying Dutchmen succeeding in holding off the hard-charging Scots.
Alma scored the first two buckets of the game and took a 6-2 lead when Fr. F Tommy Erickson (Escanaba, MI/Escanaba) hit a jumper three minutes into the contest. The Scots also led by four at 8-4, but Hope scored six of the next eight points to tie the game at 10-10 with 13:41 left in the first frame.
The Flying Dutchmen then reeled off the next 10 points, led by Sr. F Jesse Reimink, the MIAA’s leading scorer, who tallied eight consecutive points during the stretch. The closest Alma could get the rest of the half was at 22-14, when Fr. G Cory Schneider (Carson City, MI/Carson City) hit a jumper at 7:23. Over the next six minutes Hope took charge by scoring 17 of the next 20 points for a 39-17 lead. The 22-point margin stood at halftime, with the Flying Dutchmen leading by a score of 41-19.
The leading Scots scorer in the opening half was Sr. F Matt Brown (Midland, MI/Midland) with five points, while three other players had four points. As a team, Alma shot 41% (nine of 22), including one of seven from three-point land, while Hope was good on 60% of their shots, four of ten from beyond the arc.
The Scots came out on fire in the second half, and showed they were not going to go down without a fight. On the initial possession, Sr. F Ryan DeHaan (Rockford, MI/Rockford) made good on a three-point play, and after Hope scored a bucket, Brown answered on the other end with a resounding dunk. Overall, Alma started the half on a 13-2 run, closing the deficit to 11 points at 43-32, when Brown connected on a three-pointer.
The teams traded buckets, and after Alma cut the lead to 10 at 47-37, with just a bit over 14:00 remaining, Hope scored five in a row for a 15-point advantage. However, Alma came back with five consecutive points of their own to again cut it to 10 at 52-42, with 11:43 left in the game.
In a half that saw several runs, Hope tallied the next eight points for a 60-42 advantage just past the midway point. Alma then scored the ensuing 10 points to make it a 60-52 game after two free throws by Jr. C Isaac Thaler (Middleville, MI/Thornapple-Kellogg) at the 5:32 mark.
After a three-pointer by So. G Kevin Ginther (Harbor Beach, MI/Harbor Beach) made the score 70-64 at the 3:00 minute mark, Hope knocked in the next eight points for a 78-64 lead, with just over a minute to play. The Scots ended the run there on two free throws, but they could not get any closer, dropping the game by a final score of 83-66.
The Scots’ leading scorer was So. G Jordan Redditt with 17 points, 13 in the second half, while Brown finished with 15 and DeHaan 10 on the evening. DeHaan led Alma with six rebounds, and Schneider finished with a team-high three assists. Reimink led Hope with 18 points, Daniel Cox added 16 and Ty Tanis finished with 15 points on five three-pointers.
As a team, Alma shot 47% for the game (24 of 51), including nine of 23 three-pointers, while Hope finished the contest at 56% (31 of 55) and was nine of 18 from beyond the arc.
Posted: Wed, February 25th, 2009 at 8:08PM
