Feb. 7, 2008
Stats
ADRIAN, Mich. -
Defense let the Bulldogs down on Thursday night in a 63-61 loss to Tri-State in a pivotal game for both teams in terms of positioning in the MIAA standings. Each team entered the game with identical 4-4 records in the conference and with the loss Adrian is now in fifth place while the Thunder are in fourth with just a few games left in the season.
Tri-State shot an incredible 73.7 percent in the second half (14-of-19) and 62.5 percent (25-of-40) for the game as the Bulldogs allowed their worst field goal percentage of the year. Despite that the Bulldogs had a shot to win the game at the buzzer but senior Ryan Gallus' triple try from 27 feet hit off the back iron. The hero for Tri-State was John Moore who hit a jumper in the lane with four seconds left to give Tri-State their fifth conference win. Moore finished with 10 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting in 27 minutes.
The offensive surprise for Adrian came from senior guard Corey Smith who came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points and shoot 4-of-8 from the arc. It was his second double-digit scoring output of the season. Junior guard Desmond Young led the Bulldogs in scoring for the seventh time in the last eight games with 16 points on 8-of-16 from the floor. He also had four boards, four assists and four steals in 36 minutes. Ian Weber and Ryan Gallus each added 10 points for the Bulldogs as Weber was 5-of-6 shooting and also nabbed seven boards.
Adrian shot 43.6 percent overall (24-of-55) but seemed to fall in love with the deep ball going 10-of-28 including 5-of-15 in the second half. The Bulldogs turned in over 16 times while forcing 20 Thunder miscues. AC grabbed two more boards than its opponent (26-24) and held Tri-State to just four offensive boards. Tri-State held a 28-16 edge in the paint as Tony Benford led TSU with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Adrian will face the top three teams in the MIAA standings over the next three games beginning with a matchup at Calvin College on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
