Lowry's Career-High Help Chargers Rally Late For Win Over Senators

Lowry's Career-High Help Chargers Rally Late For Win Over Senators

Box Score

Thursday night, the Charger men's basketball team was on the wrong end of a late scoring run that resulted in a frustrsting loss.

Saturday afternoon, Hillsdale turned the tables.

After trailing 50-41 with 10 minutes to go, the Chargers ripped off a 22-8 run in an eight-minute span that resulted in a 69-60 victory over Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. The win allowed Hillsdale to split its road trip through West Virginia this weekend and gives the team an overall record of 9-5 and 5-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

Points were tough for Hillsdale to come by through much of the game's first 30 minutes. The team missed 18 of its first 22 field goal attempts and trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half to a Senators team still in search of its first conference win.

When Davis & Elkins led 50-41, Hillsdale had gone four minutes without a field goal and was staring at what would be a disheartening loss. But that's when the offense suddenly started to click thanks to two of the team's more talented guards.

Junior Dylan Lowry scored six of the team's next nine points, all coming on layups, as it quickly tightened the game over the next three minutes. 

Senior guard Harrison Niego then drained a 3-pointer that gave Hillsdale its first lead of the game, 57-56, with 4:37 to go. The run continued with six more points on the team's next two possessions, a three-point play by sophomore Austen Yarian and another three by NIego, his sixth of the game, to push it to a seven-point lead with 3:06 to go.

Niego's sixth 3-pointer - the most he's had in a game in his collegiate career - capped the 22-8 run that flipped this game quickly, giving Hillsdale all the momentum and confidence it needed to close out this road victory.

Lowry and Niego combined to pour in 46 points, with Lowry's 24 a career-high and Niego's 22 tying a career-best. On a relatively rough shooting day for the Chargers, they combined to shoot 17-for-26 from the field (65 percent) and were 8-for-13 on 3-point attempts (62 percent). They each stepped up strong late in the game to provide the Chargers with clutch shooting at the most opportune time.

Lowry also dished out 6 assists and had just one turnover in 31 minutes of action. Senior Nick Czarnowski had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals while Yarian came off the bench to provide 6 points and 6 rebounds.

PHOTO: MaryKate Drews