Despite facing enormous deficits in a G-MAC Tournament road quarterfinal at Thomas More on Tuesday night, the Hillsdale College men's basketball game refused to give up hope.
That relentless attitude nearly created one of the all-time comebacks in program history, as the Chargers closed a 21-point second-half deficit to a single possession multiple times in the final minute.
Ultimately, however, the clock ran out on Hillsdale, which came up just short in a 72-71 loss to the Saints that ends its G-MAC Tourney run.
Playing on the road, Hillsdale fell behind big early to the red-hot Saints, who shot 58.1% from the floor in the first half to build a 17-point lead. Thomas More stretched that edge to 48-27 early in the second half, and, despite a desperate rally by the Chargers, the Saints still led by nine with a 1:11 to play.
Hillsdale continued to plug away, getting two offensive rebounds and drawing three fouls on the floor to set up a Mikey McCollum layup and foul that cut the lead to 71-65 with 41 seconds to go.
The Chargers fouled on the ensuing Thomas More possession and, after the Saints missed the front end of a one-and-one, Charles Woodhams drained a contested 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 71-68, single digits, with 18 seconds to play.
Thomas More missed the front end of another one-and-one to open the door further, giving Hillsdale the ball back with 13 seconds to play and a chance to tie. But when the Chargers were fouled, Hillsdale couldn't capitalize at the free throw line, and the Saints' Mitchell Rylee secured the rebound, drew a foul and put the Saints up 72-68 with six seconds to play at the line at the other end.
Mikey McCollum hit a transition 3-pointer with under a second to play to cut the deficit to 72-71, but with only 0.2 seconds left on the clock, that was as close as the Chargers could get.
Woodhams had a strong night to lead Hillsdale, with 18 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Caleb Glaser was big off the bench, scoring 11 points off the bench and chipping in four rebounds. Sophomore Ashton Janowski added 10 points and played a key role in the Chargers' second half comeback, while Joe Reuter chipped in eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists and McCollum added eight points as well.
Hillsdale falls to 18-10 on the year with the loss, and now awaits the NCAA DII Selection Show on Sunday to learn the fate of their at-large bid hopes.
If Tuesday night is the end of the season for the Chargers, it will give a young team plenty of motivation for next season. Hillsdale is slated to return 14 of 15 players and four of five starters in 2024-25, as senior Samuel Vasiu is the only Hillsdale player who is graduating this spring. That means the Chargers should have plenty of firepower ready to go next year as it looks to build on this season's accomplishments.
Photo by Reva Ludwig