Albion continues impressive start

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The Albion College men's basketball team shared in the glow of one the most successful days the athletic department has enjoyed in some time Saturday when it notched an impressive 83-76 win over Division-II Northern Michigan University in the championship game of the Mike Turner Tip-Off Classic.

"It was a big day for Albion," Albion coach Jody May said. "But our win was insignificant in comparison to the football team's tonight. I'm glad for the players and Coach [Craig] Rundle."

Eric Evans, a 6-foot sophomore out of Jenison, produced 25 points off the bench to walk off the court with the tournament's most valuable player award. He knocked down 9 of 11 shots from the field, including a pair of 3-point baskets.

"Like I've said before, our team can get points out of a different person every single night," May said. "Eric's a great shooter. He can score with the best of them."

Evans wasn't a one man show – every Briton played a vital role in securing the tournament championship. Lawrence Ridgell paced the starting unit with 19 points to gain a place on the all-tournament team and Jordan Herron (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Carter Elliott (7 points, 10 rebounds) flirted with double-doubles.

Perhaps the most impressive stat from the night was the fact that Albion out-rebounded a big, strong, and physical NMU team by a count of 38-32.

"I challenged the guys earlier today, you know, I told them that [Northern Michigan] was going to be bigger and more physical than anyone we've seen," May said. "We're young, we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but we can't be babies."

Sure enough, his team answered the call.

Ridgell, the lone senior on the squad, was the team's most consistent player in the two games. He put up 17 points on Friday night while hitting 7 of his 14 shots, and turned it up a notch Saturday night when he knocked down 7 of 13 shots to go along with 4 rebounds and 3 assists before fouling out late in the game.

The Britons will have a three-day rest before Spring Arbor University comes to town for a 5:30 p.m. Tuesday contest.

"Spring Arbor is similar to us as a program," May said. "They're very skilled, but very young. It should be a great game – two good teams going at it."