Nov. 22, 2009

Final Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The championship game of the John Dawson Tournament was an instant classic as Adrian and Defiance battled for 40 minutes and into overtime before the Yellow Jackets pulled out a 79-72 win against the Bulldogs.

The first half was dominated by defense as Defiance led 26-19 at intermission. Adrian led until the 10:05 mark of the first half when Kyle Tietje's layup gave Defiance a 11-9 lead. Adrian led 9-4 in the early going at the 12:26 mark on a Matt Wayne layup before Defiance went on a 7-0 run over the next two and a half minutes. The Yellow Jackets built the lead to seven points at the break as Adrian scored four points in the final 5:05 of the half. Adrian shot 24.1 percent in the first half while Defiance shot 45.8 percent despite going 0-of-7 from the arc.

The second half saw both teams find their offensive rhythm as the Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 36-25 at the 15:42 mark on a pair of free throws by Nick Sales. The Bulldogs cut the lead down to three at 38-35 with 12:05 remaining on a jumper by Wesley Reed. DC put the pressure on the Bulldogs and once again built a double-digit lead at 60-50 with 5:11 to play on a pair of free throws by Logan Wolfrum.

The rest of regulation belonged to the Bulldogs as they chipped into the lead and eventually got a chance to tie the game. Michael Staley hit a layup with 2:17 to go which cut the lead to a single possession at 61-58. The teams traded points over the next minute and a half setting up the late-game heroics by Reed. Wayne scored a layup with 10 seconds left to make it 66-64 with Defiance calling their final timeout. Lamar Cardenas fouled Sales on the inbounds pass and sent him to the foul line in the double bonus. Sales made the first but missed the second and Jovon Mosley grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Delano Collins. Collins raced upcourt and drew the defense before passing to Reed who buried a 26-foot triple with 0.4 seconds to play to tie the game at 67-67.

The crowd and Adrian bench stormed the court after the buzzer and it looked like the Bulldogs might pull out the dramatic win. Sales gave Defiance a two-point lead in overtime and Wayne answered on the other end with a circus shot to tie the game again at 69-69 with 3:14 on the clock. Adrian would not gain a lead in overtime however as Defiance pounded the ball inside and scored eight of their 12 overtime points in the paint. Nate Conley gave DC a two-point lead at 2:58 and Tietje followed with a layup at 1:50 to give Defiance a 73-69 lead.

Joseph Kopicki split at the foul line with 1:26 remaining in the extra session and Sales scored again down low with 52 seconds left to begin to put the game out of reach at 75-70. Staley scored at the basket with 24 seconds to go to get things within a single possession but Defiance made their final four free throws to win by seven.

Wayne made the all-tournament team for Adrian and scored a team-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. He played a majority of the second half and overtime with four fouls which limited his aggressiveness. Staley scored 12 points with 10 coming in the second half and overtime. He recorded nine assists and just one turnover on the game.

Adrian (1-2) shot 53.1 percent in the second half but were just 2-of-7 in overtime. They were 16-of-20 at the foul line for the contest. Sales had 21 points for the Yellow Jackets and was named to the all-tournament team. Wolfrum was held scoreless in the first half, but netted 16 points in the final 25 minutes to claim MVP honors. He was 8-of-8 at the line and had six assists.