ADRIAN, Mich. – The Adrian College men's basketball team is playing in the Smokey Ballenger Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs would lose their first game of the tournament to Otterbein University, 61-98.
 
In the first half of play the Bulldogs found themselves down 7-0 within the first two minutes. Adrian would fight their way back to go up one, 14-13 with 15 minutes to go in the half. Otterbein would go on a 19-2 run of their own to go up by 21 with about five minutes left in the first half. The Bulldogs found themselves down 52-28 within the first 20 minutes of play. Adrian shot 40.74% from the floor and went 3-8 from beyond the arc.
 
To start the second half both teams would trade baskets for the first six minutes. Otterbein would extend their lead to 35 with just about 11 minutes to play in the game. Adrian would compete, but just could not get any stops defensively and end the game down 37 points, losing 61-98. The Bulldogs would shoot 41.9% from the field and 21.1% from three. Otterbein would score 21 points off of Adrian's turnovers compared to six for the Bulldogs.
 
To lead Adrian was Braylon Dickerson and Reed Schilling with eight points each. Dickerson would lead in the rebounding category with eight of his own while Nick Seifert would dish out five assists.
 
Adrian will play at 2:00 PM tomorrow against Covenant College for their second game of the Smokey Ballenger Classic.