Men’s basketball team defeats Alma, 89-74, in MIAA Tournament First Round

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team defeated Alma College, 89-74, in the 2019 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament First Round tonight at the Cutler Event Center in Olivet. With the win, the Comets advance to play Albion College in the semifinals.

Final Score: Olivet 89, Alma 74
Location: The Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Mich.
Records: Olivet 13-13 overall, Alma 5-21 overall

• The Comets made their first seven shots to take a 15-9 lead at the 15:57 mark. Olivet extended its lead to 10 points, 26-16, with 9:16 left until halftime. Over the next three minutes and seven seconds, the Scots used an 11-2 run to trim their deficit down to a single point, 28-27. Olivet pushed its advantage back to seven points, 35-28, before Alma closed the half on a 7-2 run to trail by two points, 37-35, at the intermission.
• In the second half, the Comets went up by seven points, 55-48, with 13:53 showing on the clock. The Scots fought back to cut the gap to three points twice. After the last time at 59-56, Olivet scored 15 of the next 18 points to take a 15-point lead, 74-59. The run was capped by a slam dunk by senior Chase Brocker. Alma trailed by at least 10 points for the rest of the game, and the Comets' largest lead was 18 points.
• For the game, Olivet posted a 51.6 field goal percentage (33-of-64) compared to 37.9 percent (25-of-66) for the Scots. Alma drained 12-of-31 shots from behind the arc. The Comets only made two triples but shot 21-of-25 from the free throw line compared to 12-of-19 for Alma.

• Senior Tracy Edmond scored a game-high 30 points. He also had three assists and five steals.
• Junior Trevor Manuel posted a double-double, 27 points and 13 rebounds, to go along with six assists, two blocks and two steals.
• Senior Colin Jones contributed 15 points and six rebounds.

• Ryan Stevens was one of four starters to reach double figures in the scoring column with 20 points.
• Steven Harvey added 17 points.
• Cole Kleiver and Brandon Rake finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
• Rake grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, with five off the offensive glass.
• Kleiver and Stevens each dished out five assists.

• With his 30 points, Edmond became the 14th player in school history to surpass the 1,000 career point plateau. He now has 1,010 points.

• The MIAA Tournament semifinal game against Albion tips-off Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will be played at the MTI Center in Angola, Indiana. The other semifinal game features top-seed and host Trine (Ind.) University against Calvin College. Calvin beat Hope College, 68-66, in tonight's other first round game.