Saturday afternoon, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team limited the Michigan Tech University Huskeis to just nine made two-point baskets. That's normally enough to win any ballgame.
But not this Michigan tech team.
The Huskies buried 18 3-point field goals - 10 of them by gard Ben Stelzer - to edge the Chargers in a thrilling contest 84-81 at the Hillsdale College Arena. Hillsdale is now 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the GLIAC, and will host Northern Michigan University at 8 p.m. Monday.
MTU went 18-for-33 on its 3-point shots, and was able to counter a huge game turned in by the Chargers' Tim Dezelski. Hillsdale's senior forward set a new career-high in scoring for the second time in a week, pouring in 35 points on 13-for-17 shooting from the field. It was the most point scored in a game by any Charger player since Tony Gugino's 41-point outing on Feb. 2, 2008.
Dezelski's final two points of the game gave Hillsdale an 81-80 lead with 37 seconds left in the game. But Michigan Tech's Autin Armga hit a jumper with 20 seconds to play to reverse the margin. A missed 3-pointer by Hillsdale, and the subsequent defensive rebound by Tech, sealed up the victory.
Hillsdale was warm from beyond the arc as well, hitting 10 shots from downtown, and at a 43 percent clip. The Chargers held a huge edge on the boards (31-22) and outscored the Huskies by 5 from the free throw line. But 18 3-pointers made by any team is difficult to overcome.
Michigan Tech scored just 8 points in the paint in the entire game, compared to 30 for the Chargers.
Senior Anhtony Manno hit four 3-point field goals and scored 12 points off the bench for the Chargers. Senior Brandon Pritzl (pictured) had 8, while Tony Nelson, Kyle Cooper and DSerek Schell scored 7 apiece.