ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Adrian College men's basketball team hosted Hope College on Wednesday night in a weekday battle to the buzzer. After a slow start to the game, the Bulldogs grabbed the lead at halftime, but fell short in the second half losing 81-78. Adrian moves to 3-13 on the season with a 2-3 record in conference play with the loss to the conference leading Flying Dutchmen.

The Bulldogs started the game slow going down 11-4 with four minutes played in the game. After four straight missed three-point baskets from Hope, Adrian battled back to tie the game 11-11 with baskets from Kendall Chrismon and Nick Seifert. The Dutchmen regained a six-point lead, but back came the Bulldogs with baskets from Seifert and Connor Pelham, followed by a 3-pointer from Jalen Paul to take the lead 21-19 with 7:16 to play in the half. Adrian expanded on it's lead to go up by eight. Hope came back to make it a two-point, but Adrian responded to lead by ten before heading into halftime with a 37-30 lead.

Coming out of the break, the teams battled, but Hope ended up a the lead with 16 minutes to go in the game. The Dutchmen ended up on a 13-0 run to lead by six. With 8:43 left in the game, Hope led by ten but six straight points by Pelham made it a four-point game. With the Bulldogs in range and time winding down, Pelham drew a foul that was called a flagrant against Hope giving Adrian two shots and the ball back. Pelham knocked down both free throws followed by a layup from Chrismon to make it a 76-75 Hope advantage with 33 seconds to go. Hope went up by four with six seconds left, but a Paul three-pointer gave Adrian life, but they were unable to pull it out.

Pelham finished the game with a team-high 25 points followed by 12 from Paul to go with 11 assists to pick up a double-double. Chrismon came off the bench and recorded 15 points for Adrian. Pelham also led the team in rebounding with nine followed by seven from Paul and five from De'Ovion Price.

Adrian returns to action on the road at Albion College at 3:00 PM on Saturday, January 22.