GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament Central
Hillsdale at Findlay Game Notes - March 5, 2014
In most tournaments, the matchup between the #2 seed and #7 seed tends to represent teams far apart on many statistical areas, not the least of which is won-loss record.
Wednesday night's GLIAC quarterfinal game between Hillsdale College and the University of Findlay is not one of those.
The Chargers and Oilers meet for the third time this season, and seventh time in the postseason, at 7 p.m. inside Findlay's Croy Gymnasium in the first round of the 2014 GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament. The winner advances to Saturday's semifinal, to be played at the home of the highest remaining seed after completion of Wednesday's first-round games.
These two teams have an extensive postseason history, and it's been very one-sided. Hillsdale is 0-6 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament against Findlay, dating back to the first meeting between the teams in 2002. That year was the first of four consecutive playoff exits suffered by the Chargers at the hands of the Oilers from 2002-2006. The past two meetings between these teams in the playoffs have come in the GLIAC Tournament Championship Game, in 2010 at Findlay and 2012 at Hillsdale. The Oilers were the victors in both meetings.
That's the history. But the reality is that the Chargers came very close to sweeping the Oilers in the regular season series, despite the three-game and five-place difference between them in the standings. Findlay escaped with a 74-71 win over Hillsdale in Ohio on Feb. 1. In that game, there were 11 ties and nine lead changes, and neither team led by more than one possession in the final 10 minutes of the second half. After two missed free throws by Findlay's Greg Kahlig, the GLIAC's leading scorer this year, Hillsdale's Tim Dezelski had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer, but his shot with 7 seconds left barely rimmed out, preserving the win for the Oilers.
Last Thursday, the final day of the regular season, saw the Chargers serve some payback to Findlay in the form of an impressive 86-67 victory. After a tightly played first half, Hillsdale outscored Findlay 47-29 in the second half, limiting the Oilers to 32 percent shooting from the field and 16 percent shooting from 3-point land in the game's final 20 minutes.
That effort was typical of how dominant Hillsdale was at home during the regular season. The Chargers were 12-1 inside their newly renovated arena, outscoring their opponents by an average of 15.5 points per game. However, on the road, Hillsdale was 5-7 this season and won just twice in the state of Ohio, at Lake Erie College and at Ashland. Three of the Chargers' road losses, at Findlay, Ohio Dominican and Malone, came by a grand total of six points.
There was a lot of parity at the top of the conference this year, with the #1 seed (Lake Superior State) finishing just four games better than the seventh-seeded Chargers. Hillsdale's 14-8 record and .636 conference winning percentage are unusually high for a No. 7 seed in the conference tournament, and the Chargers' statistical performance as a team bears that out.
Hillsdale ranked in the GLIAC's top three in opponents' points per game, opponents' rebounds per game, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, 3-point field goal percentage and opponents' 3-point field goal percentage. By most statistical measures, the Chargers were a very efficient team at both ends of the court throughout the season, and much of that starts with GLIAC Player of the Year candidate Tim Dezelski.
Dezelski, a senior forward, turned in one of the most outstanding overall seasons ever seen in Charger men's basketball history. He became the first player in school history to amass 600 points, 250 rebounds and 100 assists in the same season, and he ranks in the GLIAC's top 10 in an amazing 10 statistical categories. He finished third in the conference in scoring (23.3) and easily led the GLIAC in average rebounds per game (9.7) in 2013-14. Not only did he put up monster numbers across the board, he often had crucial non-statistical responsibilities, like bringing up the ball in the back court against pressure, and initiating the team's half-court motion offense. He is also often assigned to guard the opposing team's top scoring forward, and he will rarely see a challenge like he does in the form of Findlay's Kahlig.
One of the most explosive scorers in recent GLIAC history, Kahlig used a late-season explosion of points to become the GLIAC's scoring champ this season. In three games leading up to the last meeting with the Chargers, Kahlig scored an incredible 121 points, a 40.3 points per game clip. He doesn't need much room to get his shot off, and he can score from any spot on the floor at any time.
Dezelski opened the last meeting with the Oilers guarding Kahlig, hoping to use his strong upper body to get Kahlig away from his preferred shooting locations on the floor. Kahlig drained his first three shots of the game – all 3-pointers – but went on to miss 12 of his last 14 shots as Hillsdale pulled away for the victory. It was a rare off-shooting night for Findlay's top scorer, the kind of night that seems less likely to happen on his home floor.
The Chargers are 6-12 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament, and won its only tournament championship in 1995, pulling off upsets of Ferris State and Oakland University to cut the nets down. Hillsdale then went 15 years before winning another postseason game, finally breaking through in 2010, advancing to the GLIAC Tournament Championship Game.
Since 2010, in even-numbered years, Hillsdale is 4-2 in the GLIAC Tournament, but was eliminated in the first round in the three most recent odd-numbered years, 2009, 2011 and 2013. Last year, Hillsdale lost at Grand Valley State 73-57 in the quarterfinal round.