A 22-point halftime lead was more than enough for the Hillsdale College men's basketball team, who with Tuesday's win over Davis & Elkins, finished its December homestand undefeated.
The Chargers led 37-15 at halftime and went on to defeat the Senators 78-59 at the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. The win makes Hillsdale 12-2 overall and 6-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic conference. Hillsdale concludes the 2017 calendar year undefeated at home, with an 8-0 mark this season.
The Chargers shot 59 percent and dictated the pace of play throughout the game's first 20 minutes. Defensively, Hillsdale held Davis & Elkins to just six made field goals as a team, four of them coming from center Trevor English, as the team deployed its conference-leading defense to impressive levels in the game's first half.
Hillsdale also enjoyed a 45-37 edge on the boards and held the Senators to just 13 percent shooting from 3-point territory (2-for-13).
The reliable Nick Czarnowski delivered another strong performance for Hillsdale, scoring a game-high 26 points on 12-for-18 shooting from the floor. He made all seven of his baskets in the first half and came within one point of tying his career-high in the points column in the win. He also pulled down 11 rebounds, many of them coming in the second half, with five of those on the offensive end.
Senior Ryan Badowski was also on target, making each of his first five baskets, three of them from 3-point land. He finished with a nifty 16 points on just eight field goal attempts.
Junior Nate Neveau tied his career-high with 11 assists and expertly ran the team's motion offense, finding open teammates throughout the game.
Senior Stedman Lowry scored 10 and hit two 3-point baskets for the Chargers.
This marks the third time Hillsdale has a 12-2 record or better in the John Tharp era of Charger men's basketball, joining the 2010-11 and 2011-12 squads who won at least 12 of their first 14 games.