The good news is, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team held the top scoring team in the G-MAC to 20 points below its average for the season.
The bad news is, it wasn't quite enough.
Playing a gritty second half, Hillsdale rallied from 14 points down to tie Walsh, but in the end, fell to the Cavaliers 67-62 in a battle of two of the three first-place teams in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Thursday night in Ohio. The Chargers are now 11-7 overall and 7-2 in the G-MAC while the Cavs move to 8-1 in conference play.
A pair of 3-point baskets late in the first half extended Walsh's lead from five to 11 points, 41-30, at intermission. The score didn't reflect how close the first half was played, but the Cavs' explosive offense – they averaged 87 points per game through their first 18 – showed itself in this significant spurt late in the first half.
That lead grew to as many as 14 points, 45-31, early in the second half, and Walsh, a team that's traditionally been very tough at home, was cruising. But that's when the Chargers got to work on a comeback, and it began, as usual, with their defense.
Hillsdale held Walsh to just 7 points over a 10-minute stretch in the second half, during which the Chargers climbed back into the ballgame with a 21-7 run, capped by a Dylan Lowry 3-point basket that made it a 52-52 game with 6:26 to go.
But Hillsdale was never able to claim the lead after that, as the Cavs went on a quick 7-0 run to take a 59-52 lead with 3:15 to go. The Chargers went 0-for-3 from the field and committed a turnover during that stretch.
Over the game's final 6:36, nine of Walsh's 15 points came from the free throw line. In the game, the Cavs outscored the Chargers 16-5 from the charity stripe, with Walsh connecting on 16 of its 18 attempts from that spot.
The loss spoiled a career-high scoring performance from one of Hillsdale's best. Junior guard Connor Hill, who has made tremendous strides in all aspects of his play this year, scored a career-best 15 points, 10 of them in the first half for the Chargers. He made a pair of 3-pointers and was 6-for-11 from the floor.
Junior Davis Larson had 13 points and 3 rebounds while Austen Yarian finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
PHOTO: MaryKate Drews