Playing for the third time in five days, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team put up a valiant effort, but ultimately lost to the GLIAC North Division-leading Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals Monday night at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.
Rallying from a 10-point deficit, the Chargers mounted a brave comeback, but were on the losing end of a 72-69 contest to SVSU, dropping Hillsdale to 12-7 overall and 8-7 in conference play.
Saginaw Valley State came into the game leading the GLIAC in scoring at 81 points per game. Hillsdale played well defensively in the second half, limiting the Cardinals to just 35 percent shooting and 29 points in the game's final 20 minutes. But the Chargers were unable to scrape together enough offense to build on its brief lead.
SVSU did a good job of maintaining its lead late in the game, making 7 of 10 free throws over the game's final 42 seconds, when it was trying to hang on to a two-point lead.
Senior forward Kyle Cooper did his best to bring Hillsdale a victory, leading all scorers with 26 points to go along with 15 rebounds and 3 assists. He made 10 of 19 shots from the field, hit all four of his free throws and made two 3-pointers, including one with 0.6 seconds left that gave Hillsdale the faintest glimmer of hope.
Senior Jason Pretzer and sophomore Ryan Badowski each scored 11 points, and Nate Neveau came off the bench to add 9, making seven free throws in defeat.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale heads north to face Northwood University at 8 p.m. Thursday in Midland.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kadie Lowery