OLIVET, Mich. - The men's basketball team suffered a last-second letdown on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8) as Nate Jennings from Olivet College hit a jumper as time expired to give the home team a 53-51 win over the visiting Bulldogs. Adrian is now 6-6 overall and 1-1 in the MIAA as six teams sit at 1-1 in the conference. Adrian's next opponent will be Albion College who is the only 2-0 team early in the conference season. The two teams will square off in Albion on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 PM.
Olivet got off to a hot start with an 8-2 lead at the 14:22 mark. Adrian trailed 10-2 but then scored the next seven points to cut the lead to 10-9 at the 11:57 mark after a lay-in by Ray Reed. Olivet held a lead until the 3:24 mark when Adrian took a 20-19 lead after a layup by Josh McPherson. After the fourth tie of the first half, Adrian took a 26-24 lead into halftime as Sean Gallant scored at the buzzer. Adrian scored 16 points in the paint in the first half and got 11 points off the bench. Cody Barnes led the Bulldogs with seven points in the first half but did not score in the second half and attempted just one field goal.
The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the second half to take a 30-24 lead in the first 45 seconds. Olivet went on a 12-5 run over the next six minutes to take a 36-35 lead for the first time since the 1:09 mark of the first half. The game remained tight for the rest of the contest as there were three ties leading up to the 4:30 mark with the score at 47-47 after a pair of Michael McClary free throws. Adrian did a good job on the reigning MIAA player of the year as McClary scored 11 points on just 3-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-10 at the foul line.
Jennings made a pair of free throws to give Olivet a 50-49 lead with 3:21 left and then Joe Post split at the line with 2:47 to go giving Olivet a two-point lead. Adrian came up empty down the stretch going without a field goal for the final 3:23. They missed two shots but still managed to tie the game at 51-51 with 27 ticks left as Wesley Reed made both free throws for the 10th tie of the contest setting up Jennings' game winning shot.
Andre Evans led all scorers with 19 points for Olivet. Gallant led the Bulldogs with 13 points. It was his fifth double-digit game this season. Gallant also had seven rebounds in 29 minutes. Dennis Mason had a good game with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Mason set his season-high in points and tied his season-high in rebounds. Olivet had a big advantage at the foul line making eight more than Adrian attempted (18-10). AC was 5-of-10 at the line while OC was 18-of-29.
Adrian shot 36.2 percent from the floor including a 30.8 percent clip from behind the arc. Olivet shot 39 percent from the floor and was just 3-of-11 from behind the arc. Adrian outrebounded Olivet, 37-35, which was the fourth time in the last six games that the Bulldogs have won the battle of the boards.
