ADRIAN, Mich. – The Adrian College men's basketball team played signature defense in a 54-44 win over Trine, which has been a trademark of head coach Mark White's program. This season however, the Bulldogs had been yielding 69 points per game coming into Saturday's clash with Trine. The team buckled down and made stops all day holding the Thunder to 25 points below their season average, while limiting them to 31.9 percent shooting (2-of-20 three's).

Junior Rickey Jackson, Jr. came out firing for the Bulldogs (4-9, 2-0 MIAA) scoring the team's first 11 points. Anton Horton became the player to join Jackson, Jr. with an offensive rebound and putback making it 13-9 in favor of Adrian with 10:05 left in the first half. Jackson, Jr. drilled a three-pointer off the glass to give Adrian a 16-11 lead with 8:35 left in the half. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 30-20 at the break closing out the half on a 14-5 run over the final 5:28. Jackson, Jr. scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and Ben Rodak added eight points in 18 minutes. Trine shot 33.3 percent from the floor and the Bulldogs made 12-of-24.

Trine came out in the second half and scored six points to force an Adrian timeout. The Bulldogs though answered by increasing their lead back to 40-29 with 10:50 left in the game. Trine made another run at taking the lead cutting it to 40-37 with eight straight points. Jordan Denham hit a jumper and followed with a triple to increase the lead to 45-37 with 5:01 to go. Trine did not get within one possession for the rest of the game and senior Curtis Gordon made four straight free throws in the final 41 seconds for a 10-point win. Adrian snapped a three-game losing streak against the Thunder and join Calvin as the only 2-0 teams in the MIAA. Adrian hosts Calvin this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Adrian outscored the Thunder bench, 20-0, and also outscored them 18-10 in the paint. Adrian finished 6-of-14 from deep and 6-of-10 at the free throw line. Jackson, Jr. finished with eight rebounds to go along with 18 points in 30 minutes. Rodak did not score in the second half but did grab seven boards and block two shots in 37 minutes. Denham came off the bench to score nine points in 27 minutes. Horton scored six points and grabbed five boards (four offensive) in 19 minutes.