On Thursday night, the sixth-ranked Hillsdale College men's basketball team faced perhaps its biggest obstacle to its undefeated start to the 2022-23 season: the Chargers' arch-nemesis and a fellow G-MAC title contender, Findlay.
But thanks to a red-hot first half shooting performance and rock-solid defense throughout, Hillsdale made getting past a strong Oilers squad look easy in a 80-62 victory.
Facing a rival in a high-stakes contest, the Chargers couldn't ask for a better start offensively. Hillsdale scored 49 first-half points to take a 14-point lead into halftime, shooting 63.3% from the floor and 66.7% from deep to pull away from the Oilers. Only a solid shooting half of their own kept Findlay in the game in the face of Hillsdale's explosive start to the contest.
Sophomore Joe Reuter led the way for the Chargers early, knocking down four 3-pointers and scoring 16 of his 19 points in the first half to help get Hillsdale the double-digit lead. Reuter also finished the contest with five rebounds and two steals while leading the Chargers in scoring for the game.
Hillsdale couldn't keep up that extremely efficient shooting percentage in the second half, and the Chargers' regression to the mean gave Findlay an opening to mount a comeback. The Oliers scored the first six points of the second half to cut Hillsdale's lead to eight, and continued to pressure the Chargers throughout the period, searching for an opening to get back in the game.
But Hillsdale never provided that opening, forcing stops to head off potential Findlay runs and continuing to answer every one of the Oilers' pushes. Still leading by 10 with 7:46 to play, the Chargers got a 3-pointer from Noah Applegate, who just checked in off the bench, to take a 65-52 advantage. Two minutes later, senior Kyle Goessler hit a 3-pointer and scored on a midrange jumper on back-to-back possessions to keep Hillsdale up by double-digits, and the Chargers closed out the game by holding Findlay to just two points in the final four minutes to secure the victory.
While Reuter was key in the first half for Hillsdale, seniors Goessler and Jack Gohlke led the charger in the second half, combining for 20 points to help Hillsdale keep Findlay at bay. Gohlke finished with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Chargers on the night, and Goessler chipped in 14 points on 83% shooting from the floor, two rebounds, four assists and two steals as well.
Hillsdale also got a strong performance from its bench, which contributed 24 points in the victory. Sophomore Eric Radisevic chipped in eight points and four rebounds for the Chargers, while freshman Ashton Janowski hit all three shots he attemped to finish with seven points. Sophomore Charles Woodhams chipped in six points and three rebounds in 15 minutes of action as well.
Defensively, the Chargers were excellent, holding Findlay 16 points below their season average. Hillsdale took full advantage of 13 Findlay turnovers, scoring 19 points off those Oilers miscues, while committing just eight turnovers themselves.
With the victory, the Chargers are now 11-0 overall, and 4-0 in the G-MAC, the only remaining unbeaten team in conference play. With 11 straight victories to open the season, Hillsdale ties the 2001-02 team for the second-best start in program history, and is just two games behind the record of 13 set by the 2010-11 squad.
Hillsdale will look to keep its streak going with a dangerous road game on Saturday at Tiffin, scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan