ADRIAN, Mich. — The Adrian College men’s basketball team advanced to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) tournament semifinal with an 83-73 win over the Hope College Flying Dutchmen. The Bulldogs led 36-34 at halftime and came out strong to start the second half to pull ahead for good.
The Bulldogs fell behind early with Hope jumping out to an 18-12 lead with eight minutes played in the first half. Adrian went on a 13-3 run to take the lead 26-23 with six minutes to play in the first half. Adrian’s Trey Helinski took a shot from the corner that rimmed in an out of the net and no good to end the first 20 minutes of play at 36-34.
Bellamy made back-to-back layups to start the second half for Adrian to spark its early run and to bring the score to 42-36. After not scoring in the first half, Jordan Harris came to life and scored the next six points for Adrian. With a 54-43 lead and 11 minutes left to play in the second half, Harris made four three-pointers in a row to put Adrian up big. The Bulldog’s largest lead of the night was 22 with 9:16 left to play.
Hope started to climb back into the game to bring the deficit to 11 with under a minute to go. Late free throws by the Bulldogs allowed them to hold on for the win and advance to Friday’s semifinal game. The first round win marks the first MIAA conference tournament win since February of 2012 when Adrian knocked off Trine to advance to the MIAA championship.
The Bulldogs will now travel to Albion College for a neutral site game against No. 2 Calvin University. Adrian defeated Calvin at home 76-59 but finished the regular season with a 29-point loss in Grand Rapids.
Here’s the updated MIAA Playoff games:
#3 Adrian College vs #2 Calvin University (5pm Friday, 2/28)
#4 Trine University vs #1 Albion College (8pm Friday, 2/28)
*Both semi finals games will be at the Kresge Gymnasium at Albion College*
*Media by the Adrian College Sports Information Department/Adrian Athletics*