Thanksgiving Dinners can be enjoyed by members of the Hillsdale College men's basketball program with smiles after winning both home games this week.
The Chargers made it 2-for-2 at the Hillside Lanes Thanksgiving Classic with a 66-56 regional win over Purdue Northwest, a new member of the GLIAC. The win makes Hillsdale 5-1 on the season.
Neither team appeared to get into much of an offensive flow through the game, but Hillsdale relied once again on its team defense to hold the Pride to 29 percent field goal shooting in the game. PNW made just seven first-half field goals as the Chargers established themselves on defense early in the game, not allowing the Pride any easy baskets.
Purdue Northwest shot 18-for-63 from the floor for the game, and actually shot a better percentage on 3-point shots - 9-for-28, which is 32 percent. From two-point land, the Pride shot 9-for-45 for the game (20 percent).
On offense, Hillsdale was able to get a career-high scoring performance from its most efficient shooter. Junior center Nick Czarnowski scored a career-best 21 points, going 9-for-11 from the field to lead all scorers. Czarnowski was part of a good big man matchup with the Pride's Torrance Johnson, and Czarnowski got the better of it, consistently getting good low post position, giving his teammates clear post entry passes. Most of Czarnowski's shots were layups after getting strong position in the lane.
Czarnowski also had 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals in a terrific all-around performance.
Junior guard Nate Neveau was a force at both ends, with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists against just one turnover in 27 minutes. Junior guard Harrison Niego came off the bench to score 8 points, and sophomore Dylan Lowry had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists for Hillsdale.
The Chargers are back in action Sunday for a non-league road game against Saginaw Valley State.