With a big weekend showdown looming, the #14/15 Hillsdale College men's basketball team took care of business at home on Thursday, pulling away early from visiting Ohio Dominican and holding off a late charge by the Panthers in a 74-58 victory.
Up 20-14 with 8:17 left in the first half, the Chargers went on a 13-3 run over the next six minutes and outscored the Panthers 20-8 to halftime to take an 18-point lead into the break. Two early 3-pointers in the second half by junior Kyle Goessler helped push the Charger lead to 20, and for a moment it looked like Hillsdale would win in a rout.
But the Panthers caught fire from the floor to claw their way back into the game, hitting six of their 10 3-pointers in the second half. ODU got as close as eight points, trailing 57-49 with 11:11 to play, but Hillsdale found an answer for every made basket by the Panthers down the stretch, stretching the lead back out to 14 on a Patrick Cartier layup with 5 minutes to go that ended any chance of an ODU comeback.
Cartier had another sterling outing for Hillsdale in the victory, shooting 11 of 15 from the floor to finish with 24 points, his sixth game of 20 or more points in eight outings this season, and also chipped in eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Goessler continued his strong early shooting form as well for Hillsdale, shooting four of six from 3-point range to finish with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, and senior Austen Yarian had another solid all-around game, adding 14 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Chargers.
Tavon Brown chipped in six points and eight rebounds for Hillsdale, Joe Reuter contributed seven points off the bench, and Peter Kalthoff added six.
That Ohio Dominican scored 36 second-half points and still only got to 58 is a testament to just how good Hillsdale's defense was in the first half. The showing further improved what was already the best scoring defense in the G-MAC by nearly four full points, as Hillsdale continues to rely on strong play at that end to get the job done. The Chargers held ODU to just 36.7% shooting from the floor, and outscored the Panthers 40-18 in the paint.
Hillsdale is now 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the G-MAC, with a big road trip on Saturday to one of three fellow unbeatens in the conference, Cedarville, in a critical early-season clash. The Yellowjackets are riding high after back-to-back impressive wins over G-MAC title contenders Ashland and Findlay, and will be looking to add the most impressive victory to their resume yet with the nationally ranked Chargers coming to town for a 4:15 p.m. tip, while Hillsdale will be looking for critical separation in the G-MAC title race.
Photo by Anthony Lupi '21