Men’s basketball team bows out of MIAA Tournament with 92-69 loss to Albion

ALBION, Mich. – The Olivet College men's basketball team came up short in a 92-69 final to Albion College in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) tonight at Kresge Gymnasium.

Final Score: Albion 92, Olivet 69
Location: Kresge Gymnasium; Albion, Michigan
Records: Albion 14-12 overall, Olivet 7-19 overall

• In the first half, the Comets built a 10-point twice. After the last time at 25-15, the Britons scored seven straight points to close the gap to three points. Olivet answered with 10-3 run to push its lead back to double digits, 35-25. Albion battled back with its own run, 11-2, to make the score 37-36 with 2:46 left until halftime. Junior Noah Wiswary drained two free throws to put the Comets ahead by three points, 39-36, at halftime.
• The Britons scored the first four points of the second half to go ahead 40-39. Junior Tevin Ali countered with a three-pointer to hand the lead back to Olivet. Albion came back with a 9-1 run for a 49-43 lead at the 15:47 mark. Back-to-back Comet baskets made it a one-possession game. The Britons used another large scoring run, 11-2, to extend their lead to double digits, 60-49. Olivet scored the next two points before an Albion jump shot put them back ahead by 11 points. The Britons' advantage would stay at more than 10 points for the rest of the game.

• Junior Tevin Ali scored a team-leading 17 points.
• Senior Eddie Thigpen contributed 16 points.
• Senior Chris Martin and junior Noah Wiswary each netted 12 points.
• Martin pulled down 10 rebounds.

• "First off I can't thank the Olivet College people for showing up tonight," said Olivet head coach Sam Hargraves. "All of you made it an incredible atmosphere for us for a road game. I think the energy from propelled our start to the game and we rode that emotion for most of the first half.
• "We lost their best shooter three times late in the first half and that really hurt. They were able close the gap down to four and I was hoping we'd be up 8-10 (points) going into the second half. I must give credit to Albion for how well they played in the second half.
• "I don't think we played that bad for a good portion of the second half. We absolutely could not make many shots from anywhere.  Then we got sloppy and started to lose our composure a bit as we kept missing. That gave them some easy baskets off way too many second half turnovers."

• Ken Thomas led all players with 22 points.
• Cortez Garland tallied 20 points.
• Devin Holmes recorded a double-double with 14 points and game-high 15 rebounds.
• MJ Barnes and Justin McAbbe finished with 13 points apiece.