Facing a tough opponent at home on Saturday, and coming off a dispiriting loss on Thursday, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team played like a squad on a mission in an 80-60 victory over visiting Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Chargers scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed at any point in a wire-to-wire victory over a Panthers squad that entered the week in the top three in the G-MAC standings.
Hillsdale shot the ball excellently throughout the contest, scoring 46 first-half points and finishing with a 53.1% field goal percentage and a 42.1% mark from 3-point range, but a strong shooting performance by the Panthers in the first half meant that Hillsdale led by just five despite the offensive fireworks.
The Chargers maintained their strong shooting in the second half and locked down defensively, holding KWC to just 19 second-half points and not giving up a basket to the Panthers' leading scorer, Logan McIntire, who score all 17 of his points in the first half.
With the defense rolling, Hillsdale used a big run midway through the second half to break the game open. Junior Joe Reuter opened the surge with a layup, and sophomore Ashton Janowski scored on three straight possessions to give the Chargers eight straight points.
Coming out of a timeout, it was senior Charles Woodhams' turn to take charge, as he scored three baskets on four possessions to match Janowski blow-for-blow. A CJ Yarian fast-break dunk punctuated the 14-2 run that turned a three-point contest into a 17-point Chargers lead and all but ended the competitive portion of the afternoon with 4:46 to play.
Senior Samuel Vasiu led the Chargers with a career-high 17 points, four rebounds and two steals, one of four double-figure scorers for Hillsdale on the evening. Reuter chipped in 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals, Janowski added 14 points and Woodhams finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Chargers.
Yarian added nine points, five rebounds, and five assists for Hillsdale, which harrassed KWC into 16 turnovers and turned those extra possessions into 22 points, with 19 points coming in transition.
The win is a big one for Hillsdale, which improves to 11-6 overall, 6-4 in the G-MAC and maintains its spot in the top eight at the halfway mark in the conference season. Hillsdale returns home for a 7:30 p.m. Thursday contest with Northwood next week before hitting the road before a challenging Saturday showdown against current G-MAC leader Cedarville at 3 p.m.
Photo by Reva Ludwig