ANGOLA, Ind. – The #9 Trine University men's basketball team had to withstand a late run by the Adrian College Bulldogs to advance to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Finals game via a 74-70 win on Friday. The Thunder (23-3) won the Semifinal Round over the Bulldogs (8-19) thanks to a big stop defensively by Grant Pahl with a block in the final seconds.
Trine will face Hope College in the Tournament Finals on Saturday, February 24 inside the MTI Center at 7:30 p.m. The three-seed Flying Dutch were able to top their cross-town rivals Calvin University in their semifinal matchup, 83-68.
Fred Garland got the Thunder off to a quality start ahead 12-7 with six of those points coming from the First Team All-MIAA selection. A 9-1 run for Adrian in the middle portion of the first half allowed the Bulldogs to stay in the game and gave Adrian confidence. Pahl would knock down a three off a feed from Nate Tucker to go into the under-eight media timeout with a 17-16 lead.
After getting the game back to even, Cortez Garland would hit from deep to put Trine back in front, 25-20. Drew Moore would add a pair of field goals late in the period just before the final three minutes when both teams combined for 22 points. When the dust settled for halftime, it was the Thunder who found themselves on top 37-34 at the break.
Long range shooting by Adrian allowed the visitors to regain the lead early in the second half and at the under-16 media timeout, the teams were tied at 44 all. Aidan Smylie and Brent Cox gave Trine a six-point edge at 52-48, but the pesky Bulldogs remained persistent in their efforts. A foul on a three-point attempt allowed Adrian to hit three free throws and take the lead 59-58 with 7:19 to go.
A run of six straight Thunder points for Pahl gave the team momentum late and put the home squad in position to put the game away. A layup by Cox off a pass from Fred Garland made it 69-64 Trine with less than three minutes to go. A pair of free throws by Emmanuel Megnanglo gave the Thunder their largest lead of the game at 72-64 with 1:43 remaining.
Back-to-back three's by the Bulldogs brought the underdogs all the way back to within two and needed a stop to get the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead. Adrian would force a turnover with 13 seconds left on the clock, but on the other end it was a block by Pahl that led to a layup by Cortez Garland in transition to put the dagger in this one, 74-70.
As a team, Trine was 24-for-50 (48.0%) from the field and just 2-of-12 (16.7%) from distance. A difference of 14 made free throws would be part of the positive result for the Thunder on the night. The two were even with 12 turnovers each, but Trine made Adrian pay for their mistakes by a 12-2 difference in scoring on the opposite end of the floor.
Fred Garland (17 points) and Cortez Garland (16 points) led the charge, but Pahl's 11 points off the bench was a major key to the game. Megnanglo brought down a team-high 10 rebounds for the Thunder.
Tickets are available now for the MIAA Tournament Finals game between Trine and Hope through the MIAA TICKETING PORTAL.
