Men’s basketball team falls to Albion, 89-74, in MIAA Tournament quarterfinals

ALBION, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team fell to Albion College, 89-74, in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament tonight at Kresge Gymnasium.

Final Score: Albion 89, Olivet 74
Location: Kresge Gymnasium; Albion, Michigan
Records: Albion 9-3 overall, Olivet 2-16 overall

• In the first half, the Comets led by six points, 26-20, at the 9:19 mark. The Britons chipped away at their deficit and took a 31-30 lead with 3:31 remaining in the opening half. Albion drained back-to-back three-pointers to take the largest lead for either team at seven points, 37-30. A trey by senior Chris Martin before a layup by the Britons made the score 39-33 at halftime.
• In the second half, Olivet cut its deficit down to two points on two occasions. After the last time at 51-49, Albion scored nine straight points to push their lead to 11 points. The Britons led by 11 points three more times, including 65-54 at the 6:34 mark. The Comets put the next five points on the scoreboard to trail by six points. Olivet would not get any closer for the rest of the game.

• Martin finished the game with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three-point territory. He also grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.
• Sophomore Noah Wiswary posted a double-double, 12 points and 10 assists.
• Junior Dane Vos also scored a season-high 12 points.
• Senior Eddie Thigpen tallied 10 points, two blocks and two assists.

• Cortez Garland led all scorers with 27 points.
• Caden Ebeling scored 23 points.
• Devin Holmes pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds.

• Wiswary's 10 assists ties for the fifth-most in a game since the start of the 2002-03 season.

• "I actually felt we played better than the final score shows," said Olivet head coach Sam Hargraves. "There have been some games this year where the final score probably looked better for us than the game actually went. We competed, we played with much better poise than we have other games. We had chances in the second half to make some runs but just couldn't get the ball to go in enough. Finishing the game with 22 assists and two second-half turnovers will be nice thing to remember going into the long off-season.
• "With this being such a crazy year, we were fortunate and thankful to the able to play and practice as much as we did. It was great for our whole program to be able to stay active. Our record is what it is, but three of our losses came to scholarship level schools. We said from the beginning, we just want to play as many games as we can and enjoy it while we can. We never knew when the season might come to a pause, or even an end. I can not thank the leadership at Olivet enough for being safe, yet supportive in providing as much of an experience for our student-athletes as possible."