Albion senior forward Jeff Burgess, who made his first start of the season against Adrian, looks for space to pass around the defense applied by Billy Collins.
An Achilles heel of the Britons in past games, Albion shot 22 of 29, 75.9 percent, from the free-throw line, making eight of its last nine, six by junior guard Michael Thomas, to help ice the win.
The Bulldogs had a chance to tie on their final possession, but Brian Schaefer's long three-pointer was well of the mark.
The win kept the Britons, 11-5, 2-2 MIAA, one game behind league-leaders Calvin and Hope.
"It was a really hard fought game," said Albion coach Mike Turner. "Just when I thought it looked dire, we talked to our players and told them to keep fighting and playing hard."
The Britons looked like they were losing it midway through the second half when, thanks to a Ricky Palmer flagrant foul followed by a Marcus Gill technical foul, the Bulldogs rattled off a six-point possession to take a 51-47 lead.
But Turner took a timeout, calmed down the players, and Albion fought back. Adrian's lead swayed between two and six points until consecutive lay-ups by Albion forward Brandon Crawford and a jumper by Thomas gave the Britons the lead for good 64-63 with 3:11 remaining.
Thomas led the Britons with 21 points, and was especially key down the stretch as he scored 12 of the Britons' final 19 points. He was a clutch 12 of 13 from the free-throw line. Crawford, making just his second start of the season, fell one point short of his season-high, notching 13 points to go with eight rebounds.
Junior forward Travis DePree played another solid all-around game. His 19 points was his third highest output of the season, and he also grabbed eight rebounds, dished out four assists, recorded six steals and blocked three Adrian shots.
Albion stayed in the game thanks to DePree's consistency on offense (10 points in the first half, nine in the second) and by dominating the boards. The Britons outrebounded the Bulldogs 38-22.
"We had really good free throws that were instrumental, and rebounding was very big," said Turner.
The first half was very sloppy. The Britons, paced by a hot start by DePree and several fast break points, jumped out to a 30-19 lead on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Garrett Gibbons. But the Bulldogs, feasting on 11 Albion first-half turnovers, ended the half on a 14-2 run to take a 33-32 lead into the locker room.
Schaefer keyed the run by scoring seven points, including two three-pointers. Schaefer led the Bulldogs with 31 points and seven threes. Billy Collins was the only other Bulldog in double figures, with 13 points.
"The key we told our players was containing their streaks," said Turner. "They had a couple streaks there and eventually we were able to contain them."
The loss dropped Adrian to 8-7, 2-2 in the MIAA.
Albion will continue MIAA play Saturday, Jan. 24 when it travels to face Alma.
ADRIAN COLLEGE (8-7, 2-2 MIAA) Brian Schaefer 11-20 2-5 31; Billy Collins 4-11 4-4 13; Andy Kubish 1-3 2-2 5; Mark Bohlen 2-4 1-2 5; Adam Novak 1-4 2-2 4; Mike Lewis 2-3 0-0 4; Jeff Nokovich 1-7 1-2 3; Nick Clark 1-3 0-0 2; Steve Thornton 1-1 0-0 2; Nate Stoltzfus 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 12-17 69. ALBION COLLEGE (11-5, 2-2 MIAA) Michael Thomas 4-10 12-13 21; Travis DePree 7-9 5-7 19; Brandon Crawford 4-6 5-9 13; Garrett Gibbons 2-4 0-0 6; Jeff Burgess 3-6 0-0 6; Rick Palmer 1-2 0-0 3; Will Braaksma 1-1 0-0 2; Sean Davis 1-1 0-0 2; Joe Finland 0-2 0-0 0; Mike Bailey 0-2 0-0 0; Marcus Gill 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-46 22-29 72. Adrian College................ 33 36 - 69 Albion College................ 32 40 - 72 3-point goals-Adrian College 9-26 (Brian Schaefer 7-14; Andy Kubish 1-2; Billy Collins 1-5; Jeff Nokovich 0-3; Nick Clark 0-1; Nate Stoltzfus 0-1), Albion College 4-13 (Garrett Gibbons 2-4; Rick Palmer 1-2; Michael Thomas 1-3; Jeff Burgess 0-1; Mike Bailey 0-1; Marcus Gill 0-2). Fouled out--Adrian College-Adam Novak, Albion College-None. Rebounds-Adrian College 22 (Mark Bohlen 7), Albion College 38 (Brandon Crawford 8; Travis DePree 8). Assists-Adrian College 9 (Billy Collins 4), Albion College 16 (Travis DePree 4). Total fouls-Adrian College 22, Albion College 15. A-506