The Tiffin University men's basketball team fought until the bitter end on Saturday, falling 87-85 to the Ohio Dominican Panthers.
The Dragons led for a large portion of the 1st half, but surrendered their lead at the 04:45 mark for the rest of the half, as the Panthers used an 8-2 run to lead 29-28. Tiffin stayed within arm's length as they went to the half trailing 39-32.
At the break, ball security was an issue for Tiffin, committing 14 turnovers leading to 24 of the Panthers' 39 points. Tiffin was off the mark from beyond the arc, hitting only 2 of 10 attempts from deep. Austin Adams led Tiffin with 9 points and 9 rebounds. Tony Kynard came off the bench to aid the Dragons, scoring 9 points on 4 of 8 shooting.
The two sides traded buckets to start the half, with Tiffin closing in on the Panthers' lead. At the midway point of the 2nd half, Tiffin trailed by only two points, 51-49. An 11-2 run by Ohio Dominican pushed their lead back to 10 with five minutes to play. In the closing minutes of the game, it looked bleak for Tiffin, trailing by 12 with 01:32 remaining. Then Tiffin flipped the switch, pulling to within four points, using an 11-3 run in a little over a minute of game time. In the final 30 seconds of the game, Tiffin twice trailed by only a point, but were unable to tie the game, falling 87-85.
Austin Adams had the game of his life, scoring a career high 31 points, 22 in the 2nd half and grabbed a career high 20 rebounds with 11 occurring in the 2nd half. In the history of Tiffin University men's basketball, no player has ever recorded a double-double in which they scored 30 or more points and grabbed 20 or more rebounds. Adams hit 12 of 18 shots from the field, and collected seven offensive rebounds, more than the entire Ohio Dominican team. Khaleal McCormick added 19 points for the Dragons and grabbed six boards. Tony Kynard finished with 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting.
As a team, Tiffin hit 40.5% of their shots, but struggled from deep, making only 5 of 21 attempts. Tiffin held an enormous rebounding advantage, snagging 52 boards compared to ODU's 31.
The loss drops Tiffin to 8-9 overall and 4-6 in GLIAC play.