Alma Men's Basketball Clinches First MIAA Tournament Title and NCAA Bid - Feb 28, 2016

The Alma men's basketball team clinched the program's first-ever Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament championship by defeating Trine 62-54 Saturday night at Hope College's DeVos Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Scots punched their first-ever ticket to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball tournament. Alma (21-6 overall) now awaits its placement in the 62-team to be announced on Monday.
Senior Scott Nikodemski (6'1''-G) and junior Chase Fairchild (6'1''-G) paced Alma with 15 points each and were the only two Alma players in double figures.
The first 20 minutes featured hot shooting from both teams, as each shot 50 percent or better from the floor. The Scots closed out the half outscoring the Thunder 12-7 to take a seven-point lead into the break.
Trine climbed back from a 10-point second half deficit to pull within one point at 48-47 with 8:07 to play. Down the stretch, Alma thwarted the Thunder's turnaround by hitting all 10 of its free throw attempts to finish 13-of-14 from the stripe to help secure the win.
The Thunder's Jared Holmquist (6'4''-F) posted his 10th double-double of the season with game highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Holmquist's performance gave the senior 548 points this season, the most by any Trine player since the school joined NCAA Division III in 2004. He averaged 27.8 points on 61 percent shooting over his final four games.
Will Dixon (6'0''-PG) added 15 points for the Thunder and Kyle Dodson (6'3''-G) knocked down three treys on his way to 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting.
Trine concludes the season at 18-9 overall, having earned its most wins as a member of Division III. The Thunder advanced to the MIAA Championship for the first time in program history.

MIAA Tournament Final: Alma - Trine 62-54
MIAA Tournament Semifinals:
Trine - Hope 82-77
Alma - Albion 77-64

Courtesy of MIAA