By: Colton Steiner
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball team hosted the Adrian College Bulldogs for their 2024-25 home opener in a game that went down to the wire. Despite the Beavers taking a lead late in the contest, the visitors would spoil their day after hitting a last second putback to hand the hosts a 70-69 loss. With the defeat, Bluffton drops to 0-2 to start the season while Adrian improves to 1-1 on the year.
Starting out the game, both teams struggled to connect on baskets, but a layup from Michael Stammen (Versailles) put the Beavers on the board to make it 3-2 in favor of the Bulldogs at the 16:20 mark of the first half. There seemed to be a lid on Bluffton's basket as the visitors went on an 11-3 spurt to go up 14-6 with 10:59 left in the half. One minute later, a triple from Kelvin Turner (Cincinnati/Lakota West) lit a fire in the Beavers as they would go on an 8-0 run to even up the score at 14, with Matt Ray (Indianapolis, Ind./Herron) connecting on the game-tying three. The two teams battled back and forth until the last 3:20 when Bluffton outscored Adrian 6-2 to go into the break with a 33-26 advantage.
The two teams started the second half exchanging baskets with Adrian being able to cut the lead to two, before a 7-0 run from the Beavers was capped off with a jumper from Ian Snelling (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights) which put them up 46-37 with 13:34 to go. The Bulldogs were able to catch fire and go on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to even the score at 48 apiece. Bluffton answered with back-to-back threes from Michael Stammen and Ian Snelling, putting the home team up six with 8:55 left in regulation.
Adrian kept it within two possessions until they capped off an 11-2 run with a hoop and harm to take a 67-64 lead with 2:12 remaining. After a pair of free throws from Stammen, Matt Ray would nail a three as the Beavers regainede the lead at 69-67 with only 1:19 to go. After grabbing an offensive rebound for the Bulldogs, Josh Jordan drew a foul on Ian Snelling and split a pair of free throws, cutting the Bluffton lead to one point with only 36 seconds remaining. Following a missed layup from Ian Snelling, Adrian bounced a three off the rim in the final five seconds, but Emcee Williams would grab the offensive rebound and immediately lay the ball into the net as the buzzer sounded to seal the 70-69 victory for the Bulldogs.
Despite the sluggish start, the Beavers were able to connect on 23-of-51 (45.1 percent) shots from the floor and a respectable 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from behind the arc. While Bluffton was able to get the edge in total rebounds, 35-34, they were outrebounded on the offensive glass by an 11-6 margin. The visitors shot 42.4 percent (28-of-66) for the game and only 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from three, but they were able to force 16 Beaver turnovers and score 14 points off the miscues.
Leading the way for Bluffton was Michael Stammen who notched 17 total points on 5-of-11 shooting while also grabbing five boards. Ian Snelling would tally 14 markers, while also snagging six rebounds and dishing out five assists. Matt Ray added 14 on 3-of-4 shooting from distance and Cam Rogers (Cincinnati/Cincinnati Christian) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds on Sunday.
The Beavers will put this loss behind them before they travel to Wooster to face off against Mount Union on Friday, Nov. 22, at 5:30 p.m. in the Al Van Wie/Wooster Rotary Classic. Bluffton will play in the consolation contest at 4 p.m. or the championship game at 6 p.m. against either La Roche or the College of Wooster on Saturday, Nov. 23.
-BEAVERS-
