Men’s basketball team to host Albion in MIAA Tournament first round

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team will play host to Albion College in the first round of the 2023 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Thursday, February 22, at 6 p.m. inside the Cutler Event Center.

The Comets (11-14, 7-7 MIAA) have earned the fourth seed, earning the right to host the Britons (7-18, 4-10 MIAA) who are the fifth seed.

Regular season champion Calvin University (21-4, 13-1 MIAA) will host the MIAA Tournament semifinals and championship game on Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25 at the Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids. The Knights are the number seed, while Trine (Ind.) University is the second seed. Calvin and the Thunder have both earned byes in the first round.

Third-seed Hope College (16-9, 10-4 MIAA) will host six-seed Adrian College (7-18, 4-10 MIAA) in the other first round game. The winner of this game will face Hope in the first semifinal game on Friday at 5:30 p.m., while the Albion versus Olivet winner will face Calvin in the second semifinal contest on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

FAN INFORMATION

Fans planning to attend MIAA Tournament games should take notice that no MIAA passes will be accepted for admission. Students from MIAA schools will be admitted free of charge and should present their ID at the entrance to gain admission. Adult ticket prices are $7 each, MIAA faculty/staff are $5 each, non-MIAA students are $5 and children under age 5 are free. Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance on the Hometown Ticketing app (search for MIAA Basketball) or on the MIAA ticketing website (https://www.miaa.org/landing/tickets).

If you are unable to make it to the game, a live video feed will be available on the Olivet College Athletics Stretch Internet portal (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/olivetcollege/). Live stats will also be available on www.olivetcomets.com.

ALBION VS. OLIVET

Olivet won both regular season meetings against Albion. The Comets triumphed by an 83-69 score on the Britons' home floor on January 18. Olivet then won 81-79 on February 15 inside the Cutler Event Center. In the first game, sophomore Lorris Upshaw scored a game-high 23 points, while senior Derrick Johnson had 14 points. Freshman Haidyn Garrison and senior Ryan Robinette tallied 10 points apiece. Senior Tevin Ali grabbed a game-best nine rebounds. For Albion, Ken Thomas and Fred Garland combined for 41 points – 21 for Thomas and 20 for Garland. In the second game, five Olivet players reached double digits in the scoring column, as Robinette led the way with 19 points. Senior Noah Wiswary added 13 points. Ali and Upshaw each had 11 points, while senior Dane Vos contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Thomas led the Britons with 29 points and 11 rebounds.

MIAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Thursday's game marks the 25th time in school history the Comets have participated in the MIAA Tournament. This game will be the 10th all-time meeting between Olivet and Albion in the tournament. It is only the third game to be played on the Comets' home floor, as six were in Albion and another was in a neutral-site gym. The last time the game was played in Olivet on February 20, 2010, the Comets won the game 78-66.