Another game, another ticket punched into the third round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
                 
For the majority of those in raucous crowd in the DeCarlo Varsity Center, it was not their tickets 

It would be the visiting Alma College Scots and their small band of vocal supporters who would move on to the round of 16 thanks to a 90-83 victory over the John Carroll University Blue Streaks.

The March Madness action was highlighted by the backcourt play of Jason Beckman (23 points) and Scott Nikodemski (17 points, six rebounds).
                 
Alma is making its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance after finishing the winter season with a 22-6 under fifth-year head coach Sam Hargraves. The Scots had their first winning season since 1996-97, a drought of 19 years.
                 
JCU was making its 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament and was hosting its 12th game, but for only the second time in program history, that hosting opportunity did not end favorably.
                 
After trailing 10-3, the Blue Streaks used the home crowd energy to their advantage and went on a 5-0 run to trim the Scots lead to two. Sophomore guard Tony Vuyancih was responsible for eight consecutive points during the offensive outburst.

The middle portion of the half was highlighted by the sharp-shooting sophomore Jason Beckman for Alma. The high-energy guard chipped in 13 points on a perfect five of five shooting for the Scot's second unit. Through 13 minutes of action, the score was deadlocked at 24 heading into a media timeout.

Vuyancih continued to assert his scoring dominance with a flashy euro-step drive to the basket to give the Blue Streaks a 28-26 lead. Allen Stokes and Doug Caputo followed with more convention layups of their own to keep the lead at two.

A late Alma scoring run put the score at 39-34 in favor of the Scots heading into the intermission.
                 
Both teams came out of the locker room with the shooters touch as they combined for 18 points in just the first three minutes of the half. D.J. Beckman, the older brother of Jason, scored five consecutive points to give Alma a 57-46 lead and force a John Carroll timeout with 14:40 remaining.
                 
A pair of three-pointers from Doug Bradfield and Chase Fairchild advanced Alma's lead to 80-64, its largest of the game. The Scots were able to convert 11 of their 34 three-point attempts on the evening for a percentage of 32.4 percent.

Layups from both Ryan Farragher and Will Starks cut the Alma lead to 10 with only 1:20 left to play in the contest. Alma answered the JCU rally by executing from the charity stripe and keeping John Carroll from coming back.
                 
Vuyancih finished the game with a team-high 21 points while Linane tallied 13 in the game. Both guards were responsible for the majority of the offensive workload for the first and second platoons.

Alma, the top field goal shooting team in Division III, did not shoot its average but still wound up making 32-71 (.451) compared to John Carroll's 33-78 (.423) effort.

John Carroll's season concluded with a record of 26-4, while Alma will fight for another day with a record of 23-6.