Week in Review: Adrian, Trine

Always a Nice Drive

Hope 68  Adrian 58
Box
Recap

Wednesday night Hope traveled to Adrian in a game no one thought would involve two MIAA top 4 teams about a month ago.  The Bulldogs have turned things around and heading into this game had the only win that was keeping Trine from leading the league undefeated.

Early on the Bulldogs shot the ball very well making their first 3 three-point attempts and when Ricky Jackson made his third consecutive layup Adrian led 23-14.  It was Brock Benson who gave Hope a spark when they needed it most with some great hustle plays at both ends of the court and fighting for loose balls.

For the next 10 minutes Hope played its best and longest stretch of defense this year holding Adrian to two ft's and zero fg's turning a 9 point deficit into a 6 point halftime lead.  Hope's bench finished the half strong with Corey McMahon and Steve Wittenbach providing key points.

Hope continued its strong play into the 2nd half, when Sam Otto's 3 dropped in with 12 minutes to play Hope led by 16 and had outscored the Bulldogs 36-10 in the middle 18 minutes of the game.  Adrian didn't quit and made a couple nice runs to close the gap to 10.  They were able to get the score to single digits and even down to 6 before Alex Eidson hit a big 3 off a curl to put Hope up 9 again and that was basically the end.

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Sub City
I didn't get Mark White's lineup in this game.  He started Anton Horton who played 7 minutes, maybe 2 in the second half and Jamison Webster who logged 8 for the game and didn't play in the second half.  There were constant substitutions and he seemed to go very deep into his bench including playing 4 guys in the second half who played zero first half minutes.  Adrian's problem is purely offensive and I don't know how you can have any kind of chemistry with so much subbing and mixed lineups.

Tough Wednesday Night Trip
Adrian at Hope, Hope at Adrian has to be the toughest midweek trip in the league.  I thought Hope looked really sluggish to start this game.  On a Saturday you pretty much just wake-up, get on a bus and go play basketball.  On Wednesday you have a day of classes followed by a long drive and a late night return.  I would guess neither team looks forward to playing each other on Wednesday's.  Just a thought I had driving home.


Efficiency:

Hope 110.39   Adrian  96.47

Hope was really good after the first 10 minutes of this one.  I have them with a an eff of 135 the final 30 minutes, against Adrian that's outstanding.  In the league the Bulldogs have been very stingy on defense with only Calvin finishing over a 100 eff at 102.

On the defensive side of things, 96.47 is getting to be a pretty average night for Hope in the league.  This was a little bit of a weird one because the game number is pretty ok but the second half Hope gave up a 110.  That's not really good against a team that isn't very good on offense.   For this game its just that Hope's really good stretch of play was so much better than Adrian's bad stretch of play that Hope was able to maintain a decent lead and close the game out.

Pace:

62-60  For as slow'ish as it was it didn't lack for action.  Both teams had to be deliberate because both teams played pretty good defense I thought.  This pace would suit Adrian more for sure.
 
Rebounding:
Hope 33  Adrian 33

Hope had 25.9% of available offensive rebounds
Adrian had 33% of available offensive rebounds

Hope was beaten on the boards a little, but they shot a much higher percentage than Adrian so fewer offensive rebounding opportunities when the ball goes through the net.  Adrian was better both halves, it was a game long thing.  Second chance points confirms it, 14-7 to Adrian.



Some wins will be better than others

Hope 73  Trine 63  OT
Box
Recap


Its probably best to just skip to the part when everyone thought this one was over except the guys on Trine's bench.  With just over 6 minutes to play and Hope leading by 9 Trine's Tyler Good commits an offensive foul, his 5th of the game.  Most people, including me thought that was it, and Hope would probably secure the win rather easily.

Over the games final 6 minutes Trine had the ball 9 times and failed to score only twice.  They chipped away and chipped away and in a game they never led had the ball and the final shot to win. On that final play the Thunder went with an isolation for Will Dixon.  As Hope moved to double Dixon,  he dished it off to an open Dustin Hall who's 3-pointer glanced off the rim and sent the game to overtime.

In overtime it was Harrison Blackledge that provided separation with a long 2 followed by a strong post bucket 'and one'.  The killer was Alex Eidson nailing his first and only 3 of the game as the shot clock wound down to put Hope up 5 followed by another Blackledge 2.  Hope was able to salt away a very hard fought and well earned win over a really good Trine team.

That changed fast
With Saturday's results the MIAA title race was tossed around with Hope, Calvin and Trine all tied with 6-2 records and Adrian just one game back.  Calvin's loss at Alma was stunning but maybe not surprising as we've been waiting for the Scots to do what they did to someone for awhile now.   No matter how we got there the final 3 weeks of the MIAA season look set to be packed with close important games.  There really isn't a single game anyone can afford to look past as the separation between teams will only grow more narrow as we hit late February.

Would anyone be surprised if 3 losses won the MIAA this year?

Blackledge
As much as this game was about the dominance of Trine's Jared Holmquist it was equally about Harrison Blackledge's career high 27.  With Hope facing some foul trouble and their two guards pretty tied up by Trine's defense Hope really needed someone to step up and be the guy they could count on for offense.   Harrison was Hope's strongest player on Saturday displaying several nice jump-shots and some strong moves to the rim.  As the game moved to overtime Harrison was the best player on the floor and scored 9 of Hope's 16 points.  Exciting future.

Efficiency:

Hope 113.44   Trine 98.48

Both teams struggled a little in the first half.  I thought there was a long period where both teams played very good defense and the 'feeling out' period seemed to last a little bit longer.  As the game went on the offensive efficiency of both teams picked up.  For the first half it was Hope 91 Trine 78, maybe even a little ugly.  The second half was Hope 114 Trine 124 and I've already mentioned how good Trine was to close out the game.

In overtime it was all Hope as they failed to score on only 1 possession.  For the first time in the game Trine might have been a little fatigued, Dixon missed all 4 of his shot attempts and committed 2 turnovers including a critical one that allowed Hope to run 30+ seconds off the clock and gain a 6 point lead. 

Pace:

64-64  This was a pretty slow one with possessions at 57's to finish regulation (57 points too!)  That's Trine's game for the most part.  No transition baskets in this game at all.

Rebounding:
Hope 37  Trine 23

Hope had 37% of available offensive rebounds
Adrian had 18% of available offensive rebounds

Hope was pretty dominant on the glass but gained very little offensive advantage because of it.  Box says 2nd chance points was only 12-7, with such an advantage you might have expected more.

Turnovers:
Whatever advantage Hope had on the boards they gave away in turnovers which were 15-7.  Its the 2nd time this year Trine has double up Hope in turnovers.  Its a product of a team very good at creating turnovers playing a team that's very good at turning it over.  The Thunder had their hands on a lot of passes throughout this game. 

As a team Trine simply doesn't beat themselves they are in the top 5 nationally in turnovers, its not a national stat but their turnover creation would probably be ranked pretty high as well .

Pool C?
I'm still of the mind Hope needs to run the table until I'm not.  Two wins this week would do a world of good to Hope's resume.  Things are pretty crowded in the Great Lakes beyond the first 3 or 4 places and lots of losses will continue to accumulate, its just important Hope isn't one of those accumulating them.


Up Next:

Wednesday  at Calvin 6pm
Saturday at Albion 3pm

I won't be doing previews anymore so if you want a look at what's coming click on previous previews for the various teams, not much has changed.  Then laugh at me.

The new one looks nice up there.