ADRIAN, Mich. - With time winding down in a tie ballgame, it was senior Cody Barnes with the ball in his hands. The guard already beat nationally-ranked Wooster at the buzzer earlier this season. Barnes took the ball full court and pulled up for a 13-footer from just to the right of the paint and nailed it to give the men's basketball team a much-needed 56-54 win over conference rival Trine University on Wednesday.

Barnes scored nine of his 15 points in the second half and improved the 25th-ranked Bulldogs to 12-2 overall and 1-2 in the MIAA. Trine was playing away from home for the fifth time in their last six games and found themselves trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half. Unlike the Hope game on Saturday, Adrian came out with fire and intensity building a 19-5 lead just 7:11 into the contest. Adrian nailed its first three triples and started the game making six of its first seven shots.

Trine then outscored Adrian 23-9 over the next 11-plus minutes to tie the game at 28-28 with 1:39 left in the first half. Adrian led 31-30 at the break shooting 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from the floor and 6-of-6 at the foul line. Sophomore Adam Meier made all six freebies for the Bulldogs and netted 14 of his game-high 20 points in the opening 20 minutes. Meier fell one point shy of his career-high set against Olivet last season and was 8-of-8 at the line establishing a new career-best for percentage.

The second half was a slugfest with six ties and two lead changes. Adrian jumped out by six to start the second half as Barnes made a triple and senior Sean Gallant followed with a jumper. Trine took their first lead of the game at 40-38 after a pair of Scott Rogers free throws with 15:48 remaining in the game. Neither team led by more than two points over the next 11 minutes until Adrian led 50-47 with 4:32 left in the contest after a layup by Gallant.

Down the stretch Adrian's defense kept them in the lead as the Bulldogs held the Thunder without a field goal for nearly five minutes between the eight- and three minute marks. Adrian went ahead by five at 54-49 with 1:16 left after Barnes made a pair of free throws. Rogers made a big jumper with 55 seconds to make it a one-possession game. Adrian ran the shot clock down on their next possession but after a missed shot it was the Thunder with a chance to tie the game. Trine called their final timeout with 12 seconds and then found Dustin Hall in the corner for a three-point attempt. Hall was fouled by Adrian's Eric Lewis with 7.8 seconds and then made the first two free throws forcing Adrian to call a timeout. After the timeout, Hall made his final free throw to tie the game at 54-54. Barnes took the ball down the court and made the game-winner with 1.2 seconds to go. Trine was out of timeouts and just had a desperation attempt at the buzzer.

Adrian held MIAA leading scorer Ian Jackson to just two points in the second half and nine total points, well below his scoring average of 22.6 points per game. Jackson finished 4-of-11 from the floor in 38 minutes. Lewis finished with 10 points for Adrian and also grabbed six rebounds. He contributed five steals and four assists in 37 minutes. Adrian coughed it up 20 times but limited Trine to 36.4 percent shooting in the second half to counter-balance that stat. Adrian has now defeated its border rival 10 of the last 11 meetings.