One of the toughest losses for the Hillsdale College men's basketball team last year was its two-point defeat at Ohio Dominican.
The Chargers came out of Alumni Hall in Columbus with a different result this year.
Thanks to a steady effort and excellent shooting from its two leading scorers, Hillsdale remained undefeated on the season with a 75-65 win over the Panthers Saturday afternoon. The Chargers are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the GLIAC.
ODU started the game on fire, having designs for another upset. The Panthers shot 54 percent from the floor in the first half, and led for much of the opening 20minutes. Hillsdale did manage to squeak out a one-point halftime lead, but the Panthers were making shots and playing inspired basketball.
In the second half, Hillsdale held Ohio Dominican to 38 percent shooting from the field, and outscored the home team 43-34.
Leading the way once again was junior forward Kyle Cooper, who turned in an incredibly efficient performance. He scored 22points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field. He also grabbed 9 rebounds and handed out 3 assists.
redshirt-freshman guard Stedman Lowry contributed 15 points while three other players - Lucas Grose, Zach Miller and Cody Smith - contributed between 8 and 9 points each. Smith in particular did. Nice job of handling the Panther pressure up court.
Hillsdale outrebounded ODU 36-24, and limited the Panthers to just 2 offensive rebounds in the entire game.