The No. 11-ranked Britons used a strong second half effort to come back from a halftime deficit and defeat Adrian College, 69-53, in the first round of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Kresge Gymnasium.
The win improved Albion to 20-5, giving the Britons their fourth consecutive 20-win season. Albion will face Hope College, an 85-63 winner over Alma College, in the semifinals of the MIAA tournament Friday night in Grand Rapids. Calvin College and Kalamazoo College will face off in the other semifinal.
Albion grabbed a few leads in the first half but could never sustain an advantage, and Adrian took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
The Britons came out strong in the second half, scoring the first five points to grab a lead they never surrendered.
Senior center Brandon Crawford had a historic night, scoring 20 points to give him the single-season scoring record with 559 points. John Niebert previously set the record with 558 points during the 1977-78 season.
Evan Way continued his strong play of late, posting a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and sophomore point guard D.J. Mocini scored a career-high 10 points and had no turnovers in 13 minutes of play.
Junior guard Zak Silas tied the game at 31-31 with a 3-pointer a minute into the second half. Two free throws by senior forward Garrett Gibbons a minute later gave Albion the lead.
Adrian stayed within striking distance until the last few minutes, thanks to the play of Billy Collins (18 points) and Andy Kubish (16 points). The Bulldogs were also helped by a few Albion turnovers that led to fastbreak points for Adrian.
Adrian scored 15 points off 14 Albion turnovers.
Albion played fundamentally sound down the stretch, hitting several free throws and taking care of the ball. Albion shot 29-for-34 from the free-throw line.
The Britons grabbed a 50-41 lead, their biggest of the night at that point, with 5:56 to play on two Crawford free throws. Albion then outscored Adrian 10-4 over the next 2-plus minutes to take a commanding 60-45 advantage.
Crawford scored a layup, Way hit two free throws, Mocini made three from the stripe and Silas capped off the run with his second triple of the game.
Crawford was just 4-for-5 from the field on the night, but he made 12 of 15 free throws.
Albion shot 38.6 percent from the field while Adrian shot 37.7 percent. Both teams struggled from behind the arc, with Albion going 6-for-21 and Adrian making four of 23 attempts.
Albion’s meeting with Hope is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday. The teams split their regular-season meetings, with the home team winning each time.
ALBION COLLEGE 69, ADRIAN COLLEGE 53 ADRIAN COLLEGE (9-17) Billy Collins Jr 7-16 4-7 18; Andy Kubish 6-11 0-0 16; Brandon Giles 5-15 2-2 12; Jeff Nokovich 1-6 1-3 3; Mike Reinhard 1-4 0-0 2; Ian Weber 0-0 2-2 2; Steve Thornton 0-1 0-0 0; David Cultra 0-0 0-0 0; Mark Bohlen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 9-14 53. ALBION COLLEGE (20-5) Brandon Crawford 4-5 12-15 20; Evan Way 4-7 4-4 12; D.J. Mocini 1-1 7-8 10; Zak Silas 2-9 3-4 9; Mike Bailey 2-9 0-0 6; Garrett Gibbons 1-4 3-3 5; Rick Palmer 1-2 0-0 3; Drew Yancey 1-2 0-0 2; Jim Cash 1-5 0-0 2; Dean Raven 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 29-34 69. Adrian College................ 31 22 - 53 Albion College................ 28 41 - 69 3-point goals-Adrian College 4-23 (Andy Kubish 4-8; Brandon Giles 0-4; Jeff Nokovich 0-4; Mike Reinhard 0-3; Billy Collins Jr 0-4), Albion College 6-21 (Mike Bailey 2-7; Zak Silas 2-7; Rick Palmer 1-2; D.J. Mocini 1-1; Jim Cash 0-2; Garrett Gibbons 0-2). Fouled out--Adrian College-Steve Thornton; Jeff Nokovich, Albion College-None. Rebounds-Adrian College 22 (Jeff Nokovich 5; Steve Thornton 5), Albion College 40 (Evan Way 12). Assists-Adrian College 11 (Jeff Nokovich 7), Albion College 14 (Rick Palmer 4). Total fouls-Adrian College 22, Albion College 14. A-502