The Hillsdale College men's basketball team just couldn't get the shot it needed to fall in the final minute of a heartbreaking 72-71 road loss at Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night.
The Chargers led 71-67 with 1:51 to play but were held scoreless the rest of the way, opening the door for the Panthers, who hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut Hillsdale's lead to one, then converted two foul shots after a defensive stop to go up one with 46 seconds to play.
KWC twice missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final half-minute, giving the Chargers three shots at retaking the lead, but Hillsdale missed a 3-pointer from the corner on their first try, then saw two pull-up jumpers rim out in the final 10 seconds to come up just a point short on the road.
After a slow start that saw the Panthers jump out to a 10-4 lead in the first four minutes, Hillsdale battled back and led for most of the first half, going up 27-18 at one point before a hot closing stretch by KWC pulled the Panthers within three, 39-36 at halftime.
The two teams traded the lead back and forth in the second half, with no team leading by more than eight at any point. Hillsdale briefly looked like it had opened up some breathing room at the midway point in the second half, following up an and-one by Peter Kalthoff with a 3-pointer by Kyle Goessler to go up 63-55, but the Panthers answered with a 7-0 run of their own to push the game right back to even down the stretch.
Joe Reuter led Hillsdale on the night with a solid all-around game, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kalthoff added 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Chargers, and sophomore Charles Woodhams was perfect from the field with 13 points off the bench as well. Ashton Janowski chipped in eight points off the bench as well for Hillsdale, and Goessler added five points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Hillsdale had the edge in bench points, 27-16, but struggled to get stops inside against the Panthers, who scored 36 points in the paint and shot 57.4% from the floor, as well as going 8 of 16 from 3-point range.
The Chargers fall to 16-2 overall, and 9-2 in the G-MAC. Hillsdale will look to bounce back with another road contest on Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern against Trevecca Nazarene.
Photo by Charles Miller