The Adrian College men’s basketball team earned its fourth-straight win with a 79-75 victory over Calvin College on Wednesday night at the Merillat Center.
Junior guard Corey Smith paced the Bulldogs with 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting, all three pointers, and four free throws. Sophomore guard Desmond Young hit for 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Lamar Cardenas, a freshman guard added 12 points with two triples.
Caleb Veldhouse led Calvin with a game-high 22 points.
After a quick Bulldog start, Adrian saw Calvin take a nine point lead five minutes into the first half when Veldhause sank a jumper after a Bulldog turnover. AC answered Calvin’s 10-2 run with their own 10-2 run to close the gap to two points after a Young lay-up off a Ryan Gallus assist at the 13-minute mark.
With 7:21 remaining in the opening half, Adrian embarked on a 14-4 run spurred by triples from Cardenas, Smith and Steve Thornton.
When the smoke cleared on the first half Adrian had taken a 44-32 lead into the break on the strength of four three pointers in 10 minutes of play from Smith.
AC kept the guests at an arm’s length until the 2:24 mark of the final stanza when Calvin’s Dustin Smith converted on a lay-in to make the score 70-65 in favor of Adrian. A Gallus triple seamed to seal the game with a minute remaining, but two triples from Veldhouse and two free throws from Derek Griffin brought the Knights to within two, 75-73.
Thornton, a senior, calmly sank two charity shots with 10 seconds left and Young did the same with two seconds left to give Adrian their biggest win of the year, thus far.
Calvin’s five previous losses on the year all came against teams ranked in the D3Hoops.com Top-25. The Knights are now 7-6 (2-1 MIAA) on the year.
The Bulldogs, tied for first place in the MIAA with Hope, are now 4-8 (3-0 MIAA) on the year.
A grudge match on the road awaits Adrian on Saturday as the Bulldogs travel to Olivet for a 3 p.m. tip-off with the Comets (3-10, 1-2 MIAA).