On a night when things aren't going right offensively, a great defensive effort can still bring a victory.
That old coaching adage proved true for the Hillsdale College men's basketball team on Saturday against Tiffin, as the Chargers used a dominant defensive effort to overcome a difficult night offensively and earn a much-needed 56-51 win over the visiting Dragons. Key to the Chargers' victory was a swarming defensive effort, as Hillsdale held Tiffin to just 33.3% shooting from the floor and one made 3-pointer on 20 attempts in the contest.
Hillsdale never trailed in the contest, taking an 8-0 lead from tip and staying out in front the rest of the way, but struggled to pull away as an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers on the night led to long scoring droughts for the Chargers.
Despite those droughts, however, Hillsdale kept the Dragons at bay, outrebounding Tiffin 43-27 to limit the Dragons to one shot and completely shutting down Tiffin from 3-point range.
That meant that whenever Hillsdale could string together a run offensively, it had a huge impact on the contest. Up 42-37 with 8:20 to play, the Chargers used a 9-4 run to stretch their lead to double digits before the final media timeout, and held on to that double-digit advantage thanks to solid defense and free throw shooting with under a minute to play. While Tiffin was able to get late baskets to make the final score closer, the game was never in doubt from that point on.
Freshman Mikey McCollum had a huge game off the bench on a night where the Chargers needed offense, knocking down two of Hillsdale's four 3-pointers to finish with a team-high 10 points and eight rebounds. Junior Joe Reuter stuffed the stat sheet for the Chargers with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Charles Woodhams chipped in nine points and five rebounds as well.
The Chargers also got eight points off the bench from center Eric Radisevic, Samuel Vasiu chipped in seven points and three rebounds, and CJ Yarian added six points and five rebounds as well.
Hillsdale improves to 9-4 overall, 4-2 in the G-MAC with the victory, ahead of a huge road trip for the Chargers and their conference hopes. The Chargers travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on Trevecca Nazarene, the lone remaining unbeaten G-MAC team and a surprise leader in the conference race, on Thursday, before a rematch with another title contender, one-loss Thomas More, on Saturday. Memories of a heartbreaking 71-70 home defeat to the Saints this past Thursday are still fresh on Hillsdale's minds as it looks to get some redemption next weekend.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan