Jan. 24, 2009

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The men's basketball team was within one three-pointer of taking the lead with less than one minute remaining but a long bomb by Dwight VanHoesen went off the back rim and Hope grabbed the rebound. VanHoesen had a very good look at a triple with 28 seconds left and Adrian down 73-71. Hope made their last eight free throws and claimed an 81-77 win.

Adrian and Hope played a very entertaining game in front of a energized crowd on Saturday night. The game featured eight lead changes and eight ties including five ties and four lead changes in the second half. The Bulldogs trailed 18-16 at the 11:29 mark of the first half and the Flying Dutch went on a 9-0 run to take a 27-16 lead at the 9:32 mark. Adrian responded with a 14-6 run of their own to cut the lead to 33-30 with five minutes left in the first half. Nate Cassidy made a driving layup with two seconds left in the half to cut the lead to 44-40 at the break. Adrian shot 46.4 percent in the first half and Hope scored 20 points in the paint en route to shooting 62.1 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Adrian tied the game for the fourth time at 50-50 just a little over five minutes into the second half. Neither team led by more than four points until there was 14 seconds remaining as the teams battled back and forth making clutch shots. The last tie of the game came at 70-70 with 2:39 left as Matt Wayne hit a layup with an assist from Michael Staley. Jesse Reimink hit a jumper on Hope's next possession and the Flying Dutch would not give up the lead the rest of the way. Staley and Young hit deep triples for Adrian to keep the game within reach as Staley's three-pointers cut the lead to 79-77 with four seconds to go. Peter Bunn hit both freebies and Adrian had a triple blocked at the buzzer.

Young led all scorers with 29 points, seven over his season average. Reimink, also with Young a solid candidate for MIAA Player of the Year, scored 19 points to lead Hope. Wayne had a great game with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He grabbed nine boards and blocked one shot in 34 minutes. Staley scored 16 points and dished out nine assists in 36 minutes. Adrian (6-10, 3-3 MIAA) held Hope to 41.7 percent shooting in the second half and connected on half of their shots (16-of-32) in the final 20 minutes. Hope held a 15-2 edge in points off turnovers and got 17 points off the bench compared to 11 for the Bulldogs. Hope went 21-of-29 at the line while Adrian was 12-of-15 including 10-of-10 in the first half.