In a tough road contest to finish the regular season, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team fell behind host Findlay early and never found traction at either end of the floor in a 81-65 loss on Saturday.
Hillsdale took its only lead of the game on a Peter Kalthoff 3-pointer just over a minute into the contest, but Findlay quickly seized control, building a lead as large as 12 points with 8:37 to play in the first half. Hillsdale made a push to get back in the game, cutting the deficit to just four, 40-36, at halftime, but couldn't carry that momentum into the second half, falling behind by double-digits again with 14:51 to play.
The Chargers continued to battle, but couldn't find the stops they needed defensively down the stretch as the Oilers became just the second team all season to break 80 points against Hillsdale to win the contest.
Offensively, Hillsdale just couldn't find its shooting touch, finishing just 39.7% from the floor in the loss while allowing Findlay to shoot 46.6% on field goals, including 54.2% from 3-point range with 13 makes from deep.
Kalthoff led the Chargers with 16 points and six rebounds inside, and sophomore Joe Reuter added 13 points and seven rebounds as well, while Jack Gohlke chipped in 13 points and four rebounds.
Noah Applegate added eight points off the bench for the Chargers, and Eric Radisevic chipped in seven points as well.
With the loss, Hillsdale finishes the regular season at 22-5 overall and 15-5 in the G-MAC dropping to the third seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament. Hillsdale will begin its tourney run with a home contest on Tuesday against Cedarville in the G-MAC Quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. The Chargers swept the Yellow Jackets this year, but both meetings were hard-fought, and Cedarville will come into the game desperate as a loss would almost certainly end their season.
Photo by Charles Miller