Albion takes early MIAA lead

The Albion College men's basketball team remained hot Saturday afternoon as they dominated Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival Alma College. The Britons defeated the Scots 72-57 in their first home game since mid-December. The victory gave the Britons their sixth in their last eight games.

The victory also gave the Britons their second consecutive 2-0 start in MIAA play, and sole possession of first place after the first week of league play.

The game was back and forth for much of the first half and neither team led by more then four points in the early going. The Britons went on a 10-0 run to take control of the game with just 4:30 remaining in the first half.

Senior J. C. Cruse was very quiet in the first half, but came out firing in the second and scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Cruse also pulled down eight rebounds. The Britons were able to stretch the lead to as many as 23 in the second half behind strong bench play.

Junior guard Chris Hutton contributed seven points off the bench. In addition, sophomore forward Leonard Wernette-Leff chipped in with a career high of six points. The Briton bench totaled 33 points. Senior forward Jake Siebert also scored 11 points and had five rebounds for Albion.

Tommy Erickson scored a career-high 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor for Alma.