A red-hot second half by Charger senior guard Dylan Lowry wasn't quite enough to lift the Hillsdale College men's basketball team to victory Tuesday night.
Lowry scored 18 of his career-high 26 points in the second half of the Chargers' game at Lewis University, but Hillsdale found itself on the losing end of a 68-65 decision in a regional game played in Romoeville. The loss drops Hillsdale to 6-5 on the season.
A four-minute scoring drought by both teams preceded Lowry's bushel of points in the second half. Lewis opened the half on a 14-2 run to take a 45-31 lead with 16:40 to go in the game. Neither team scored until Lowry's layup at the 12:40 mark of the half. That layup started a run of 10 consecutive points Lowry scored to carry Hillsdale back into contention in the contest.
Junior Davis Larson swished a jumper to pull the Chargers within two, 62-60, with 1:09 to go in the game. But credit the Flyers for making their free throws down the stretch. As a team, Lewis went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe over the final 32 seconds of the game to prevent Hillsdale from getting the lead.
Lewis outrebounded Hillsdale 35-31, committed two fewer turnovers and made 10 more free throws in the game (18-8). The Chargers limited the Flyers to 41 percent field goal shooting, 20 percent from 3-point territory.
Lowry's 26 points eclipsed his previous career-high of 24 points, achieved back on January 5, 2019 at Davis & Elkins. He also had 3 rebounds and 4 assists in the game.
Junior Austen Yarian contributed 11 points and 7 rebounds while Larson had 9 points and 7 rebounds.
PHOTO: MaryKate Drews