The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team capped off a three-game win streak at home with a win over Lake Erie College last night, 64-40. Hillsdale remains undefeated at home and is currently No. 1 in the GLIAC.
After a slow-paced start that left the score 24-17 at the half, the Chargers opened the second half with a 10-2 run led by junior center Nick Washburn who started the scoring with a thunderous dunk. Hillsdale’s team play and hustle illustrated what the team is capable of heading towards the GLIAC and NCAA playoffs.
“Lake Erie is a long and athletic team, but we were able to control the game by our rebounding and shutting down their drives,” said senior point guard Tyler Gerber.
Gerber hit a key 3-pointer to stop a potential Lake Erie run, and then seized control with another tremendous 3-point play. The Storm weren’t able to recover, and Hillsdale maintained a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.
In the second half, senior power forward Brad Guinane scored the 1,000th point of his Hillsdale career.
“We’ve just fed off the energy in the previous games,” he said. “On Saturday we had a lot of alumni here, and we had plenty of students tonight also, and it was great to put on a show in front of these fans and get some wins.”
Going into yesterday’s game, the Chargers were coming off of two victories against Northern Michigan University and Michigan Technological University.
In last Thursday’s contest against the NMU Wildcats, Hillsdale returned to its fundamentals in a dominating 89-41 blowout.
The Chargers stifled Northern Michigan’s offense, holding them to 30 percent shooting for the game after holding the Wildcats to 23 percent shooting in the second half. The Wildcats failed to take advantage of Hillsdale’s fouls, shooting less than 40 percent from the free throw line.
The Chargers, in contrast, shot over 60 percent from the field and were perfect on their free throws. They also won the turnover battle, 15-4. The game marked the largest margin of victory for the Chargers this season and it was punctuated by two spectacular dunks from sophomore guard Darius Ware.
“It’s always great to get the crowd going, and it definitely helps build our momentum,” said Ware, who finished with six points and three blocks.
Hillsdale’s balanced attack was led by the starting five with important contributions off the bench from reserve junior Tim Dezelski, who chipped in 11 points in 21 minutes in relief of the foul-troubled Washburn.
Saturday’s game against Michigan Tech was one of the best offensive performances of the year for the Chargers as they ran away from the Huskies, 91-69. Hillsdale buried Michigan Tech early behind 70 percent shooting in the first half, which ended with the Chargers ahead, 50-32.
All five starters recorded double-digit figures, led by Gerber with 18 points and 12 assists.
“Tyler just shot great the whole game,” Ware said of Gerber’s four 3-pointers.
Hillsdale now embarks on a three game road trip at Northwood University, Ohio Dominican University and Tiffin University before returning home in two weeks for the final regular season home game against Ohio Dominican.
