ADRIAN, Mich. – The Adrian College men’s basketball team upset the (RV) Albion Britons at home on senior day 79-78. The Bulldog’s win handed Albion its second conference loss of the season and kept the Britons from locking up a conference regular season championship. The Bulldogs honored three seniors prior to the win as Devin Laird, Ke’Shaun Wyatt-Morris, and Jeremy Kalonji were recognized in the pregame ceremony.
The Bulldogs took a five-point lead at 17-12 in the first half after Jordan Harris struck from deep. Albion tied the game, but Adrian did not give up the lead and jumped on an 8-0 run to lead 25-17 and force an Albion timeout. The Britons took a 36-35 lead after two made free throws, but Try Helinski followed up with two free throws of his own to head into the locker room up 37-36.
After the break Albion took over and led 53-45 after two made three-pointers. Trailing by 11, the Bulldogs called a timeout and planned their comeback. Trailing 59-47, Adrian went on another run which brought the Albion lead to one-point after a made layup by Robert Warrick. Due to foul trouble, Adrian played the last 12 minutes of the game without its second leading scorer, Jeremy Kalonji.
With under six minutes to play in the game, Albion took a four-point lead, but a Wyatt-Morris put up a layup give Adrian momentum. Wyatt-Morris and Warrick made a combined four free throws to lead 74-71 with two minutes to play.
After a Bulldog turnover, Albion had the ball with the shot clock off. The Britons would score a layup to tie the game 77-77, and drew a foul sending them to the line to take the lead. After the made free throw, Harris took things into his own hands for Adrian and dribbled the length of the court and laid the ball in for two to take the lead 79-78 with two seconds left on the clock. Albion then stepped out of bounds on the inbound pass and gave the Bulldogs the ball with .8 seconds left on the clock to seal the victory.
Adrian is on a four-game winning streak with two games remaining in the regular season.
Here are the current MIAA standings:
1. Albion 10-2 MIAA, (19-4 overall)
2. Calvin 8-4, (14-9)
3. Adrian 7-5, (13-10)
4. Trine 7-5, (13-10)
5. Alma 6-6, (12-11)
6. Hope 4-8, (11-12)
7. Kalamazoo 3-9, (6-17)
8. Olivet 3-9, (6-17)
The Bulldogs will head to Olivet College on Wednesday, February 19th to face the Comets at 7:30 PM.
The game will be on 96.5 The Cave, with Jeff Bowman and Fred Smith on the call.