Saturday's performance by the Hillsdale College men's basketball team truly stands as one of its best of the season.
Stifling defense? Check. Explosive offense? Check. A good start followed by a better finish? Check check. It was all part of an impressive 81-60 Charger victory over Malone University in Canton, Ohio. The win pushes Hillsdale to 12-7 overall and 8-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Malone University's gym has been far from kind to Hillsdale over the years. Close, but frustrating losses have been common for the Chargers in this venue, contending with a scrappy Pioneer squad. And the way this game started, it appeared another close game would be forthcoming.
But midway through the first half, Hillsdale grabbed control of this one and did not look back.
A 15-0 run featured 8 points from senior guard Dylan Lowry, and extended an early 17-15 Charger lead to 32-15. That run took just 4:13, and saw the Charger defense limit Malone to 0/2 shooting and four committed turnovers during that span.
Hillsdale concluded the first half with a 41-26 lead, shooting 67 percent from the field. Its shooting didn't cool off much in the second half, and leading that was junior forward Austen Yarian, who is in the middle of the best stretch of his career.
Yarian set a new career-high with 23 points, draining five 3-point field goals, also a career-high. He was 8-for-12 from the field and made five of his seven 3-point attempts.
The five starters for the Chargers scored 77 of their 81 points, a total that saw both Lowry and Patrick Cartier contribute 18 points apiece. Cartier had another superior shooting game, going 9-for-13, a single-game career-high for field goals made. Lowry swished three 3-point shots, and shot better than 50 percent overall (7-for-13).
Hillsdale made 58 percent of its shots from the floor while holding the Pioneers to 39 percent shooting, a margin rare in favor of a road team.
Junior Connor Hill dished out a career-high 8 assists to go with his 11 points. As a team, Hillsdale had 21 assists on 33 made field goals, while committing just six turnovers in the game.
PHOTO: MaryKate Drews