On Thursday night against visiting Findlay, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team found itself in a nearly identical situation to the one it had been in on the road against the Oilers on Saturday -- up by 15 points with 11 minutes to play.
On Saturday, that same scenario had led to a bitter defeat on the road, but playing at home on Thursday night, the Chargers made sure history didn't repeat itself in emphatic fashion, shutting the door on Findlay down the stretch to roll to a dominant 82-65 victory and cap the regular season on a winning note.
At the same juncture where Findlay started its comeback to overturn a 14-point deficit on Saturday, Hillsdale freshman Mikey McCollum forced a turnover that led to a Samuel Vasiu 3-pointer that pushed Hillsdale's lead to 57-39. That steal and 3-pointer was part of a 15-0 run by the Chargers that turned a double-digit lead into a rout, with junior Joe Reuter closing the run with six straight points to put the game out of reach.
Findlay made a late push to cut the lead to 14 with 2:05 to play, but Hillsdale never stopped scoring at the offensive end, continuing to keep the pressure on and never going into the kind of drought needed to let the Oilers back in the game.
The Chargers got the contest off to a slow start, trailing 13-6 five and a half minutes into the game. But a 3-pointer off the bench by senior center Eric Radisevic got the Chargers offense out of a rut, and Hillsdale stormed back to take a 17-15 lead with 10:50 to go in the half.
From there, Hillsdale methodically took control of the game, pairing stops on the defensive end with efficient offensive possessions leading to baskets from a variety of different players. The Chargers led by as many as 12 in the first half and took a 34-26 lead into halftime, setting Hillsdale up to pull away in the second half. For the game, the Chargers shot 51.6% from the floor and 40% from 3-point range, while also outrebounding the Oilers 38-26 and turning that advantage into 17 second-chance points.
Reuter led Hillsdale with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, while senior Charles Woodhams chipped in 13 points as well and Ashton Janowski added 10. The Chargers got huge contributions from their bench, led by sophomore Cole McWhinnie, who hit four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Radisevic and Vasiu each chipped in nine points for Hillsdale and Mikey McCollum added six for Hillsdale.
The Chargers finish the regular season 18-9 overall, 13-7 in the G-MAC, and now wait for the rest of the conference to finish on Saturday to determine their seeding for the conference tournament next week. Hillsdale could finish anywhere from third through sixth depending on results this weekend, and have a decent chance of hosting a G-MAC Tournament quarterfinal next Tuesday night if things fall their way. Check hillsdalechargers.com on Sunday to find out Hillsdale's quarterfinal opponent and where that game will be played.
Photo by Reva Ludwig