The Hillsdale College men's basketball team flipped the script on host Lake Erie on Tuesday night for a critical road victory, 79-69, that keeps them in the G-MAC title picture.
The Chargers fell behind by as many as 12 points in the first half, as the host Storm shot 45 percent from beyond the arc in that period to build a solid lead.
But Hillsdale rallied to cut the deficit to five at halftime, then dominated the second half, outscoring Lake Erie by 15 to pull away for the victory. Hillsdale shot 68.2 percent from the floor and 66.7% from 3-point range in the second half to seize control, massive improvements on a first half where it shot just 41.4% from the floor and 10% from 3-point range.
Key to the Chargers' victory was a 15-0 run that began with the game tied and 8:58 to play. Hillsdale had made just one 3-pointer in the game up to that point but hit three on three straight possessions -- two by freshman Joe Reuter and one by Kyle Goessler -- to punctuate a run that gave the Chargers the lead for good. Lake Erie refused to go quietly on their home floor, cutting the Hillsdale lead to six on multiple occasions in the final five minutes, but the advantage the Chargers had built proved to be too much to overcome.
Hillsdale had a dominant game inside, led by junior Patrick Cartier. The Brookfield, Wisconsin native, who earlier today was named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 watch list, shot a perfect 9 for 9 from the floor and finished with 24 points and seven rebounds. Cartier's play inside got several Lake Erie players in foul trouble, a key factor in Hillsdale's second-half rally.
Senior Austen Yarian finished with a 16 point, 10 rebound double-double, along with six assists, as well for the Chargers, who put up 44 points in the paint in the victory.
Along with Cartier and Yarian's dominance inside, Hillsdale also got a huge performance from Reuter, who finished with 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the floor in another huge game off the bench. It was Reuter's eighth-straight game in double-figures for the Chargers, after getting out of single digits just once in his first 15 appearances, a sign of the Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin native's continued growth as he's gotten deeper into his collegiate career.
Goessler chipped in nine points for the Chargers, and junior Cole Nau added six points, five rebounds and three assists.
Hillsdale improves to 17-6 overall and 12-5 in G-MAC play with three games remaining in the regular season. The Chargers are currently alone in fourth place, a game back of the three-way tie with Malone, Walsh, and Ashland currently in first place in the league.
Next up for the Chargers is a rematch with the Storm on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game is also Senior Day for Hillsdale, where the careers of graduating players Austen Yarian and Tavon Brown will be celebrated, and Alumni Day as well.
Photo by Anthony Lupi '22