Wednesday night marked the end of Hillsdale College’s men’s basketball season, as they fell 73-57 to the Grand Valley State Lakers in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament. Despite only being down by one point at halftime, the Chargers simply couldn’t ignite that second-half spark that they relied on in many of their games this season.
Shooting a little over 43 percent from the floor, Hillsdale fared relatively well against a team that is known for its shutdown defense. Yet it was turnovers that proved to be a severe setback to the Chargers’ offensive rhythm. Hillsdale had 18 turnovers compared to GVSU’s 7, which the Lakers converted into 27 points.
The Lakers managed to turn up their offensive intensity as the game progressed, scoring 46 points in the second half. They also made the Chargers’ pay from the free-throw line, sinking 20 of their 23 attempts.
In the final game of his illustrious career, center Nick Washburn racked up a game-high 20 points while contributing nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior forward Tim Dezelski put up another 11 points and junior guard Anthony Manno had an impressive off-the-bench performance. He had 10 points, including three 3-pointers, which provided the Chargers with a slight hope of offensive recovery.
Last Saturday, in its final regular season game, the Chargers lost to the Findlay Oilers, 74-66. Though the Chargers started out strong offensively early in the first half, it was hard for them to handle the Oilers’ pinpoint shooting.
“There was a stretch at the end of the first half where Findlay shot the ball very well,” head coach John Tharp said. “They hit six threes in a five minute stretch. Being down 10 at half, our team hung in there and battled all second half, cutting the lead to four with about two minutes to go. Tim Dezelski played very well and very hard leading us to a potential comeback.”
Dezelski was the team’s stats leader with 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while juniors Brandon Pritzl and Tony Nelson put up nine apiece.
The Chargers ended their season with a 17-10 record, and although they will be saying goodbye to Washburn and forward Ryan Choiniere, they will welcome back four starters next season.
