Men’s Basketball: Olivet falls to Carroll, 83-70

RICHMOND, Ind. –The University of Olivet men's basketball team suffered an 83-70 loss to Carroll (Wis.) University today in the second day of the Earlham (Ind.) College Melissa Johnson Classic at the Druley Performance Gymnasium.

• Final Score: Carroll 83, Olivet 70
• Location: Druley Performance Gymnasium; Richmond, Indiana
• Records: Olivet 0-2 overall, Carroll 3-0 overall

• The Comets raced out to an 11-3 lead in the first two minutes of the game. During the run, freshman Nathan Richardson scored nine of the 11 points. Olivet took its largest lead of the game, 19-7, at the 12:06 mark. The Pioneers chipped away at their deficit and eventually took their first lead of the game, 26-24, with 4:13 left until halftime. The Comets tied the game, 26-26, before two Carroll three-pointers put them ahead 32-26 at the intermission.
• Olivet battled back to take a 41-40 lead at the 13:28 mark of the second half. The Pioneers took the lead back, but the Comets answered with a jump shot to make the score 43-42. Carroll responded with a 7-0 spurt to regain the lead, 49-43. The Pioneers did not give up the advantage for the rest of the contest.

• Richardson led all players with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 free throws. He grabbed eight rebounds.
• Freshman Lee Hardy joined him in double figures with 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
• Junior Nolan Finkbeiner scored 11 points, including three three-pointers.
• Senior Noah Wiswary dished out five assists.

• "We had a much better effort today from a toughness and competitive standpoint," said Olivet head coach Sam Hargraves. "It still wasn't for 40 minutes, but we did execute much better especially in the first half. We had some very good looks that didn't go down, and after a while it took some of our defensive energy away. We came out the first 10 minutes totally committed to working on defense, and it showed."

• The Comets host Defiance (Ohio) College Wednesday night for its home-opener. Tip-off from the Cutler Event Center is 7 p.m.