On the road at Cedarville three weeks ago, the Chargers hung with the G-MAC leaders until late, but didn't have the offensive firepower to close the deal.
In Thursday's home rematch with the Yellow Jackets, Hillsdale found just the spark it needed to turn the tables on Cedarville, getting a career night from one of its true freshmen off the bench to take a critical 76-68 victory.
Freshman wing Mikey McCollum was the catalyst for the Chargers, shooting 8 of 12 from the floor, including 5 of 8 from deep, to finish with a career-high 25 points, nearly a third of all the Chargers' scoring. McCollum hit two big first half 3-pointers as the Chargers were 8 of 12 from deep to build a 38-33 lead over Cedarville at the break. Coming out of halftime, Hillsdale opened the second half on a 9-2 run to seize a double digit lead, and then McCollum went bombs away, knocking down three 3-pointers and scoring 11 points in a five minute span to stretch Hillsdale's lead to 58-42 with 9:49 to play.
As Cedarville made a late run to cut the deficit to four points with 2:53 to play, McCollum came up big again, scoring back-to-back layups in under a minute to stretch the lead back out to nine. The freshman also helped seal the game at the line in the final minute, going 4 for 5 on free throws to push Hillsdale's lead out of reach.
While McCollum had a huge night, he wasn't the only Charger to stand out. Senior Charles Woodhams just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, including three big 3-pointers of his own, while redshirt freshman center C.J. Yarian also came close to a triple double with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and junior Joe Reuter did complete a double-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Hillsdale shot an impressive 46.2% from deep in the victory, thanks to impressive and unselfish play as the Chargers finished with 19 assists on 27 made shots. The Chargers also won the rebounding battle decisively, beating Cedarville 37-25 on the boards, and held one of the league's most dynamic offenses to just 68 points and 30.3% 3-point shooting in the victory.
The win is a huge one for the Chargers, who improve to 15-8 overall and 10-6 in league play with the victory. The win keeps Hillsdale alive in a tightly-packed league race, as Hillsdale is just two games behind co-leaders Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan with four conference games to play. While a lot will have to go right for Hillsdale, the Chargers are still in the mix to potentially grab a share of the G-MAC title if Hillsdale can win out and have other results break its way.
Winning out will be a big challenge for the Chargers, however, as Hillsdale has another tough opponent on Saturday at home in defending G-MAC Tournament champion and preseason favorite Ashland at 3 p.m. The two teams come into Saturday's contest tied at 10-6 overall in the conference standings, making it a pivotal contest for both teams' standing in the G-MAC race. It's also Senior Day for the Chargers, who will celebrate senior Samuel Vasiu in a ceremony before the game.
Photo by Reva Ludwig