Jan. 30, 2008

Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The battle within the game on Wednesday night proved to be who could top who as junior guard Desmond Young of Adrian and senior center Mat Kellogg of Kalamazoo traded scoring blows before the Bulldogs and Young had the last knockout punch in a 66-62 win over the Hornets. Young went off for a season-high 30 points in 37 minutes while Kellogg had 29 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Adrian held the Hornets just past their outstretched hand the entire night in a game that kept everyone on the edge of their seat. The Bulldogs led by no more than eight points all night but had the lead for the final 33:35 of the contest. Kalamazoo had the lead four different times in the first 6:25 before Adrian grasped the lead for good at 12:59 of the first half. The Bulldogs led 20-13 at the 12:33 mark on a Young layup and had four separate eight-point leads including a 40-32 halftime advantage. AC shot 53.6 percent in the first half and committed just five turnovers.

The Hornets got the lead down to one point on three occasions in the second half with the last coming with 8:50 left at 53-52 on a Kellogg layup. Young hit a big triple in the corner to give AC a 57-52 lead at the 8:29 mark. Kalamazoo trimmed the lead to 64-62 with 31 seconds to play and was forced to foul. Dwight VanHoesen hit a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left to give Adrian a 66-62 lead. Henry McCain had a costly traveling call go against him with 22 seconds to go but VanHoesen missed the front end of the bonus and Kellogg hoisted a three-pointer with 12 seconds left that barely hit the rim. K-Zoo fouled VanHoesen again and he misfired on a pair of freebies with six seconds left but knocked the second miss off the hands of a Kalamazoo player out of bounds. Adrian inbounded and ran out the clock on their fifth home win of the season in seven games.

Young has now scored in double figures in five straight games averaging 20.2 points over that stretch. He was 11-of-17 from the field and scored 18 points in the first half going 6-of-9. Lamar Cardenas had back-to-back fine scoring performances with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 36 minutes. Adrian shot 50 percent overall (25-of-50) and were 5-of-15 from the arc and 11-of-21 at the line. Kalamazoo held a 36-22 scoring edge in the paint and had 17 second-chance points. The Hornets outrebounded Adrian, 36-25, with 15 offensive boards. Adrian is now 8-9 overall and 3-4 in the MIAA.