Case Western's Richard Mullen hit a three-pointer with 9.5 seconds remaining to give the Spartans a 73-72 advantage before Murphy drained a jump shot at the buzzer to lift the Scots to a win and the championship game of the holiday tournament, where the Maroon and Cream will face Denison at 4 p.m.
Alma jumped out to a 15-1 lead in the first five minutes (14:20) of the game, connecting on three of four three-point attempts. They finished the first half eight of 16 from behind the arc. Case battled back from their second 14-point deficit of the half (23-9 at 9:01) to outscore the Scots 25-17 and trailed by just six, 40-34, at the intermission. Alma senior guard Greg Nelson had 11 points in the first 20 minutes for Alma and Case sophomore center Mason Conrad had six points and eight rebounds. Mason ended the night with a double-double (10 points & 10 rebounds) and Nelson led all scorers in the game with 22 points.
The lead would change three times in the second half with Case taking their first one of the game, 48-46, at the 15:08 mark as Richard Oren kept the Spartans in it with 13 points in the last 20 minutes. Alma sophomore forward Cory Massey was his team’s second-highest scorer with 15. The Scots finished the game a whopping 13 of 28 from behind the arc.