The Adrian Blackhawks were seeking to come into the Bears Den and spoil Butler’s senior night in this conference and in-county rivalry. 

Rusow won the opening tip for the Blackhawks, and after a few missed opportunities on both sides, Rusow would go to the charity stripe and knock down a pair to open up an early 2-0 Adrian lead. Mallatt started the Bears scoring with a long ball. After some trading of baskets, Mallatt grabbed a steal, and recorded a basket to bring the Bears within 1, 8-7 with 3 minutes to play. Following a basket from Jake Chandler, and a triple from Payne, the Bears took a 12-8 advantage over Adrian. To close out the quarter Adrian went on 7-0 run and found themselves in the driver seat with a narrow 3 point advantage after one, 15-12. 

In the 2nd quarter, the Bears played some tough defense and forced the Blackhawks into some difficult shots, however, solid offensive rebounding led to Bryler Ford getting some big put-back baskets. Payne was finally able to get to the line and get the Bears on the scoreboard in the quarter, and his free throw would be the lone point scored by the Bears in the quarter. At the end of the half, the Blackhawks led 25-13. 

Out of the locker room, Payne found Phillips under the basket for the Bears, the basket was answered by Ford on the Blackhawks side. After a quick bucket exchange, the Blackhawks would rattle off 12 unanswered before Philips would end the scoring drought for Butler. At the end of 3, Adrian held a convincing 48-18 lead over the Bears. 

The fourth would continue to see Adrian dominate, and walk away with a 58-23.

The Blackhawks out rebounded the Bears 37-22. 

Adrian was led by Hamilton with 14 points, while Bryler Ford had 13 points to go along with 12 boards. 

Jake Chandler was the high-scorer for the Bears with 8 points. 

Photos by Erin Dubray