In the first half of Sunday's men's basketball game between Hillsdale College and Saginaw Valley State University, offense was hard to come by for both teams. But as the second half rolled along, two Charger players found the range to the tune of career-highs in scoring for both.
Junior forward Gordon Behr and sophomore guard Dylan Lowry each set new career-highs for points in a game as Hillsdale defeated SVSU 79-55 at the O'Neill Arena in SVSU's campus Sunday afternoon. The win makes Hillsdale 6-1 entering Great Midwest Athletic Conference play next week.
Lowry scored 19 points in 26 effective minutes off the bench, going 6-for-8 from the floor. Eleven of those points came in the second half when the Chargers withstood, then emphatically countered, a brief comeback attempt by the Cardinals. He connected on both of his 3-point field goal attempts, including one from well beyond the arc in the game's closing minutes that helped put a stamp on this victory.
Behr, a tireless worker who has played his way into a starting role in his fourth year in the program, was terrific in all aspects of the game, finishing with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The point and assist totals set new career-highs, while his 7 boards matched a career-high he achieved in the GLIAC Tournament against Ferris State last year. Behr's inside scoring was a big boost to a Charger team that saw several of its frontcourt players deal with foul trouble throughout the contest.
Neither team found much on the offensive end of the floor in the first half, which ended with Hillsdale holding a 27-16 lead. Although the Chargers had difficulty getting shots to fall, they were able to fall back on their defense, which kept the Cardinal offense on ice. SVSU's 16 points, five field goals made and 17 percent shooting from the floor were all season-bests for a half for Hillsdale.
Over the past four games, Hillsdale is allowing its opponents an average of just 56.3 points per game, and four of the Chargers' last five opponents have failed to score 60.
Hillsdale held Saginaw Valley State to 34.5 percent shooting from the field in the game (20-for-58) and limited the Cardinals to a 28 percent clip from 3-point land (5-for-18). The Chargers heated up in the second half, scoring 53 points in the game's final 20 minutes while shooting 54.7 percent from the floor overall in the victory.
Junior guard Nate Neveau had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and junior forward Nick Czarnowski had 13 points and 2 boards while being plagued with foul trouble.