Years from now, when the young men on the 2013-14 Hillsdale College men's basketball team have children of their own, they will tell them not about the final score of their exhibition game played Monday night, but the general experience of playing in Assembly Hall. And, that time ever so briefly, when the Chargers had the Hoosiers on the run.
Monday night in Bloomington, Indiana, the Chargers closed out their exhibition schedule in a 79-39 loss to last year's Big Ten regular season champions, the Indiana University Hoosiers. Hillsdale will now start playing games that count in its final record starting Wednesday, Nov. 13 at home against Lourdes College of Toledo, Ohio at 7:30 p.m.
Just 28 hours after playing an overtime exhibition game at the University of Toledo, the Chargers got to take the floor inside one of college basketball's most treasured and well-known venues. And for the first few minutes of the game, Hillsdale looked right at home.
After surrendering the first basket of the game, the Chargers went on a 13-0 run on Indiana
to take a stunning 13-2 lead six minutes into the game. Hillsdale's defense continued to hold strong through much of the first half, leading 16-15 with less than six minutes left in the first half. Three-point shooting by seniors Tim Dezelski and Anthony Manno were big parts of Hillsdale's incredible start to the game.
But the Hoosiers took control and dominated the second half, outscoring the Chargers 46-15 in the game's final 20 minutes.
Dezelski led Hillsdale with 15 points and five rebounds, while senior Tony Nelson, who started the game, added nine points with three boards. All six of Manno's points came in the first-half 13-0 run by Hillsdale.
Photo at top by Lyndsay La Course. Photo at left by Joe Eke.