Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) scored a career-high 32 points on Wednesday evening as Lourdes earned its fourth consecutive victory, defeating Adrian 89-66 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
Welch made 14-of-21 shots from the floor as the Gray Wolves held a 52-40 advantage in points in the paint on the evening.  Lourdes shot 55.9% from the field overall as a team, including a blistering 67.6% in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Trailing by one early, Lourdes used an 11-0 run in just over four minutes to take the lead for good, 19-9, at the 12:32 mark of the opening stanza.  Another 18-6 spurt late in the half allowed the Gray Wolves to build a 52-33 advantage at the break.
 
Welch and McRay White (Cleveland, Ohio/Garfield Heights H.S.) each scored 14 points in the opening 20 minutes while Brett Lauf (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) dished out nine assists.
 
Adrian cut the lead to 14, 52-38, early in the second half, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get the rest of the way.  Lourdes responded with the next nine points, and pushed the lead to as many as 26, 78-52, with eight minutes to play.  Adrian fought back to within 18, 81-64, at the 4:44 mark before the Gray Wolves scored eight of the game's final 10 points.
 
White finished with 16 points while Jackie Harris (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) added 15 more off the bench.  Joey Holifield (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) also finished in double figures with 13 points. 
 
Lauf finished the night with 11 assists while Little Anderson (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) had six steals.
 
Kendall Chrismon led Adrian (1-8) with 15 points as the Bulldogs shot 42.2% from the floor but were just 5-of-22 (22.7%) from three-point range and committed 21 turnovers.
 
Lourdes (9-3) closes out the 2021 calendar year with three consecutive road games beginning Monday as the Gray Wolves travel to Sharon, Pa. to face Penn State-Shenango.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. inside of Buhl Recreation Center.