Thirteen minutes into Thursday's road game against Ohio Valley, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team was struggling offensively.
Senior point guard Connor Hill changed that in a hurry.
With 6:48 left in the first half and the Chargers trailing 25-18, Hill knocked down a 3-pointer to cut into the Fighting Scots' lead.
Hill's make helped spark a massive run for Hillsdale from that point on that didn't end until the final whistle blew on a 106-76 victory 27 in-game minutes later.
The Chargers had started the contest 0-for-5 from 3-point range and struggled with turnovers in the opening minutes, letting an energetic OVU team take control of the game and build a seven-point lead deep in the half.
After Hill finally put one in for Hillsdale, the floodgates opened. The Chargers finished the first half 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the final seven minutes, outscoring the Fighting Scots 28-9 during that stretch to take a 46-36 lead into halftime. Hill not only started the run but was a major factor throughout it, knocking in two more 3-pointers to finish with 13 first-half points.
After the half, sophomore Kyle Goessler kept the run going, coming off the bench to hit three 3-pointers in quick succession to help Hillsdale put the game out of reach.
Despite starting the game with five misses from deep, Hillsdale still finished 11 of 24 from 3-point range in the contest, good for 45.2 percent from beyond the arc, and shot 62.9 percent from the floor, with contributions up and down the lineup.
Sophomore center Patrick Cartier finished with 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting to lead the Chargers, and Hill finished with a career-high 19 points and also tied his career high in rebounds with six, along with four assists.
Goessler also had a career-high 17 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range, while senior power forward Austen Yarian continued his strong start to the 2020-21 season, finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore Tavon Brown played with excellent energy to help keep the Chargers in striking distance during their slow start, and filled up the stat sheet as well, finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Hillsdale's 106 points in tonight's victory are the most the Chargers have scored in regulation in a game in over a decade. Not since Hillsdale's 115-60 win over U of M-Dearborn on Nov. 24, 2010 have the Chargers put up this many points in 40 minutes of action.
Thursday's win gives Hillsdale (2-0, 2-0 G-MAC) the top scoring offense (100.5 points per game) and the top scoring defense (63) in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference entering Saturday's contest against a dangerous Kentucky Wesleyan (1-0, 0-0 G-MAC) team at 3 p.m. in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. The Chargers will look to stay unbeaten and keep pace with arch-rival Findlay (3-0, 3-0 G-MAC) atop the conference standings early in the season.
Photo: Kyle Goessler. Photo by Mary Kate Drews.