Coming off its first loss of the season, and facing a tough opponent at home on Saturday, all eyes were on a young Hillsdale College men's basketball team to see what their response would be.
And when the game was on the line in the second half against Grand Valley State, the Chargers didn't disappoint. Trailing the Lakers 30-26 at the half, Hillsdale rallied with 51 second-half point, seizing command of the game and holding off a late GVSU charge for a hard-fought 76-69 victory.
The opening seven minutes of the second half proved to be crucial. With GVSU ahead, Hillsdale came out on fire, hitting their first nine shots from the field to turn a four point halftime deficit into a seven point lead. Sophomore guard Ashton Janowski hit two 3-pointers and added an and-one to score nine of Hillsdale's 19 points in that critical run, and Janowski proved to be the catalyst for the Chargers throughout the second half. After their first miss at the 13:02 mark, Hillsdale hit back-to-back 3-pointers, by juniors Joe Reuter and Cole McWhinnie, to stretch the lead to double-digits.
In a physical game that saw both teams get in foul trouble, the Chargers kept the Lakers at bay in the second half by finishing tough drives at the rim. Reuter and Janowski both had multiple strong takes that led to points in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Hillsdale led by double-digits for much of the second half, but Grand Valley used free throws and put-backs to cut the lead from double-digits to three points with 14 seconds to play. Unable to force a turnover, however, GVSU was forced to put the Chargers at the line and freshman Mikey McCollum and Reuter each made a pair of clutch free throws to keep the Lakers at bay and clinch the victory.
The Chargers shot 62% from the floor and 63% from deep in the second half, going 5 for 8 from 3-point range. With nine made 3-pointers to GVSU's four, Hillsdale was able to neutralize the Lakers' advantage inside in both points in the paint (40 to 26) and in rebounds (37 to 29). Additionally, in a game where a lot of free throws were shot, Hillsdale was an imporessive 15 of 18 from the line, taking advantage of their opportunities from the charity stripe.
Janowski led Hillsdale with 22 points on 5 of 6 shooting, including 3 of 3 on 3-pointers and 9 of 9 on free throws in a career-best offensive performance. Also, as the Chargers' lead guard and dealing with tremendous pressure from GVSU's athletic and physical guards, Janowski didn't commit a turnover in 31 minutes of play, helping lead a Chargers attack that committed just seven turnovers on the night despite intense ball pressure by the Lakers.
Reuter continued his strong start to the year with 17 points and six rebounds, and Charles Woodhams chipped in 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, helping keep the Chargers in contact with GVSU in a back-and-forth first half.
CJ Yarian also chipped in seven points and six rebounds for Hillsdale, and Samuel Vasiu and McWhinnie each added five points as well.
Hillsdale improves to 4-1 overall with the victory, and now prepares to begin conference play against a tough Lake Erie team at 7 p.m. on Thursday at home. The Storm return significant pieces from a team that had one of its best finishes in years last season, and were one of only four G-MAC teams to successfully knock the Chargers off in 2022-23.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan