Men’s basketball team beats Adrian, 45-38

ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Olivet College men's basketball team moved into a four-way tie for third-place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings with a 45-38 win over Adrian College tonight at the Merillat Gymnasium in Adrian. The Comets are tied with Adrian, Albion and Kalamazoo with 5-4 MAA records. Hope is first at 8-1, followed by Calvin at 6-3.

The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams. The Bulldogs scored the first five points of the game before Olivet fought back and took its first lead, 12-11, midway through the first 20 minutes of play. Adrian then led 14-12 before the Comets scored a pair of baskets to take a 16-14 lead. The Bulldogs scored the final five points of the half to take a 19-16 into the locker rooms.

Olivet opened the second half with a 13-0 run to take a 29-19 lead with 14:07 left in the game. The Comets had three more 10-point leads, including the final time at 42-32, at the 6:07 mark. Adrian cut its deficit down to four points with 44 seconds left, but Olivet made 3-of-4 free throws to cap the victory.

Senior Michael McClary (Bellaire) was the only Olivet player in double figures, as he scored 17 points to raise his season total to 524 points, which is just 23 points shy of breaking the single-season school record. McClary also grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds. Senior Joe Post (Olivet) was next with eight points, followed by junior Jaren Edsall (Whitehall) with seven. Senior Nathan Jennings (Grant) scored five points and pulled down seven rebounds.

Adrian was led by Sean Gallant who scored seven points. Dennis Mason grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Comets will host Calvin College Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.