No one in the Hillsdale College men's basketball program has had a 40-point game in nearly seven years.
Until Tuesday night.
Junior forward Kyle Cooper got the 2014-15 regular season off to an incredible start, as he scorched Cedarville University for a career-high 41 points, helping the Chargers to an 84-76 win over the Yellow Jackets in Ohio.
Hillsdale, now 1-0 on the season, plays its home opener this Saturday against Salem International at 2 p.m. at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.
Cooper's point total matched the 41 scored by Tony Gugino back on Feb. 2, 2008. Those two games are the only times a Charger has reached the 40-point barrier since before the 1998-99 season. He also set a new career-high with 15 rebounds in the win. The Chargers crushed the Yellow Jackets on the boards, 50-27 in the win.
The Chargers needed every one of those points, as they found themselves in a dogfight with the Yellow Jackets, a fast-emerging team in the Midwest Region. Cedarville got out to a fast start, building a 26-16 lead until Hillsdale put a 16-6 run on the host team, quickly tying the score and taking the lead from there. But this game was anything but one-sided, as Cedarville refused to go away, despite the historic barrage from Cooper.
Twenty-six of Cooper's 41 points came in an electric first half, in which he went 8-for-12 from the floor, hit all seven of his free throws, and nailed three of his four 3-point field goals. The 26 in the first half was already good enough for a career high for the 6-foot-7 player from Northville, Michigan.
The Chargers led 45-28 at the half and extended that lead to nine in the opening moments of the second half. But Cedarville came back to tie the game at 64 with 8:15 to play. But Hillsdale was able to hold Cedarville off throughout the game's waning minutes. The Chargers made five of their six free throws in the game's final 40 seconds to maintain their lead.
Senior forward Ian Sheldon came off the bench to give the team a nice contribution of 9 points and 4 rebounds, going 4-for-4 from the floor in 9 minutes on the court.
Redshirt-freshman guard Stedman Lowry made his first official collegiate appearance, and delivered 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Junior guard Zach Miller's ballhandling helped Hillsdale navigate its way through crunch time, and he had 7 points, 5 assists and 3 steals. Junior Rhett Smith added 8 points and 6 rebounds off the bench for the Chargers.
Cedarville's Marcus Reineke led the Jackets with 30 points on the night.
Photo by Jim Drews