Men’s basketball team loses to Fort Wayne, 99-93

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Olivet College men's basketball team battled Fort Wayne for the entire game and were down only two points in the final minute before losing 99-93 to the Mastodons tonight at the Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

THE BASICS
Final Score: Fort Wayne 99, Olivet 93
Location: Gates Sports Center; Fort Wayne, Ind.
Records: Olivet 4-5 overall, Fort Wayne 10-6 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the first half, the Mastodons led by seven points, 9-2, at the 16:57 mark. Senior Jalen Adams made a three-pointer to cut the Comets' deficit down to four points, 9-5, at the first media timeout. Olivet scored four of the next six points to make the score 11-9 with 14:13 left before halftime. The Comets closed the gap one more time to two points, 13-11, before Fort Wayne surged ahead by a 23-15 score.
• Olivet battled back to trim its deficit in half twice, with the last time being 25-21. Fort Wayne scored six consecutive points to take its first double digit lead of the game at 31-21. The Mastadons pushed their lead to 11 points, 40-29, at the 4:45 mark. The Comets responded with an 18-4 run to close the half for a 47-44 advantage at the break. Adams had 12 of his 23 first-half points in the run.
• In the second half, Olivet extended its lead to six points on two occasions. After the final time at 56-50, Fort Wayne went on a 7-2 run to make the score 58-57. The Mastadons fought back and took the lead for the first time in the second half at 65-64. Fort Wayne led by as many as seven points, 80-73.
• The Comets answered with a 7-0 run – two baskets by Adams and a three-pointer by senior Aaron Washington – to even the score at 80-80. The Mastodons responded with their own 9-0 scoring spurt to push their lead back to nine points, 89-80.  Olivet was never able to regain the lead, but did close the gap to as few as two points, 91-89, with 57.4 seconds left in the game. Fort Wayne scored eight of the final 12 points, including 6-of-6 free throws, to seal its win.                                                                                                                      

FOR THE COMETS

• Olivet made nine more baskets and had a higher field goal percentage than the Mastodons. The difference in the game was Fort Wayne drained 32-of-37 free throws, while the Comet were 12-of-16 at the charity stripe.
• Adams posted a double-double with game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds.
• Junior Tracy Edmond finished with 29 points and eight assists.

FOR THE MASTODONS

• Fort Wayne had four players score in double figures, led by Bryson Scott's 31 points.
• Xzavier Taylor was next with 14 points, followed by Jax Levitch with 13 and Kason Harrell with 12.
• Taylor grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

UP NEXT

• The Comets wrap-up the 2017 portion of their schedule tomorrow and Saturday at the Hope College/Russ Devette Classic. Olivet plays John Carroll (Ohio) University tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. and University of Mount Union (Ohio) Saturday at 1 p.m.