He needed this and they needed this.
After a difficult weekend and long week of practice, the Charger men's basketball team was looking to get back on the winning track in Saturday's matchup with Lake Erie College. At the same time, senior guard Stedman Lowry was searching for a bounce-back game of his own.
Missions accomplished.
Lowry scored a season-high 31 points as Hillsdale clinched a Great Midwest Athletic Tournament berth with a 78-67 win over the Storm at the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. Hillsdale now stands at 18-6 overall and 12-5 in conference play.
Lowry struggled shooting from the field in last weekend's loss at Malone. But he came out looking like the same player fans have grown fond and accustom to seeing over his terrific career, draining four of his first five 3-point attempts from the floor.
He got his 31 points in a wide variety of ways. He sank all six of his free throws and confused the Storm defense with an assortment of pull-up jumpers, both from in the key and along the baseline. Overall, he was 10-for-17 from the field and 5-for-9 from 3-point territory in a terrific all-around performance.
Fellow senior Ryan Badowski, like Lowry playing the penultimate home game of their careers, was also active and productive with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 35 minutes of play. Badowski's ability to get to the basket was rewarded with 10 free throw attempts, eight of which he swished.
Hillsdale shot a blistering 62 percent from the field in the second half, which was needed because the Storm refused to go away. Hillsdale gained 10-point leads twice, only to see Lake Erie cut those down to four and three points at different times in the second half.
Lake Erie's Michael Morris drained a 3-pointer to make it a 66-61 game with 3:11 to go, plenty of time for the Storm to rally. But Lowry responded with a three of his own on the next possession, restoring an eight-point lead for the Chargers, in a shot that had some dagger-quality feels to it.
Junior Nate Neveau had 8 points and 6 assists, while Davis Larson gave the team some strong minutes off the bench, finishing with 7 points and 5 rebounds.