A fast start wasn't enough for the Hillsdale College men's basketball team on the road on Tuesday, as host Saginaw Valley State rallied to take a lead into the half and held off the Chargers after the break in a 68-61 final.
Hillsdale controlled the game early thanks to hot shooting in the first eight minutes from junior guard Cole McWhinnie, who knocked down two 3-pointers in quick succession to help stake the Chargers an early 17-10 lead.
But the Cardinals took charge on the offensive glass down the stretch in the first half, outscoring Hillsdale 26-13 in the final twelve and a half minutes of the period thanks in part to six offensive rebounds to take a 36-30 halftime lead.
Hillsdale refused to go quietly in the second half, preventing SVSU from pulling away and even tying the game at 54-all with 3:47 to play on another 3-pointer by McWhinnie. But the Cardinals responded to that push with a 6-0 run of their own to re-establish control, and Hillsdale was unable to get the deficit back to one possession the rest of the way as SVSU was 8 of 10 from the line in the final three minutes to hold on.
For the second straight game on the road, Hillsdale had an off-night shooting the basketball, hitting just 48.1% of their shots from the floor and going 4 for 21 from 3-point range. Hillsdale played well defensively to hold an explosive SVSU offense to similar shooting numbers, but the Cardinals outrebounded Hillsdale 36 to 24 and turned 10 offensive rebounds into nine critical second chance points, while also holding a significant edge at the free throw line.
Sophomore Ashton Janowski had one of his better games of the season, leading Hillsdale with 14 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the floor, while junior Joe Reuter chipped in 12 points, six rebounds and four assists and McWhinnie added 12 points and four rebounds as well.
Senior Charles Woodhams chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and two steals to give Hillsdale a fourth double-figure scorer on the night, while centers CJ Yarian and Caleb Glaser combined for eight points as well.
Hillsdale is now 7-3 overall and 3-1 in G-MAC play, and will get both some time off and additional practice time over Christmas break to make improvements and get back on track before conference play starts in the new year. The Chargers will be back in action at home on Dec. 30 against Grace Christian at 3 p.m. before returning to G-MAC play on Jan. 4 with a home contest against new G-MAC member Thomas More.
Photo by Austin Thomason