In basketball, there’s no such thing as an easy stretch of games. But for the Chargers, it couldn’t get much tougher than what they’ll face in the next five days.
After comfortably beating Lake Erie College and Ashland University this past week, the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team now faces a tough stretch of three games in five nights, beginning tonight in the Jesse Phillips Arena.
“We did a great job defensively,” assistant coach Brian McCauley said about the Chargers’ 66-48 win over Lake Erie last Thursday. “We picked up our tenacity.”
The Chargers started the game with a 9-0 run and never looked back. Saying the Chargers played good defense is an understatement, considering they held Lake Erie to a paltry 48 points.
“They came into the game as one of the highest-scoring teams in the GLIAC,” senior Tim Dezelski added. “We decided we were going to buckle down on defense, and everybody did their job.”
Good defense leads to good offense, which was key for the Chargers.
“We were playing good defense, and we were holding them to one shot possessions,” sophomore Kyle Cooper said. “When you can get the rebound and hold the other team to one shot possessions that allows you to get out in transition, get some easy layups and get momentum.”
The Chargers followed up their victory over Lake Erie with a quality win over Ashland on Saturday, 85-74. The game was tied at 32 with 47 seconds left in the first half before the Chargers went on a 13-0 run through the 18 minute mark of the second half to get ahead of Ashland for good.
“A 13-0 run,” Cooper said, “means they weren’t scoring any points, so when you’re playing defense, all of a sudden that offense comes easier, but more than that it discourages the other team a little bit. We thrive on that. We thrive on our defense.”
Looking ahead, the Chargers play their first game of three tonight against Malone. After playing Malone, the Chargers will go on the road to play Walsh and Findlay, the two teams in second and first in the South Division of the GLIAC. Hillsdale is only a game behind both Walsh and Findlay, and getting those two road wins could go a long way towards determining where the Chargers will finish in the GLIAC standings.
“One game at a time,” McCauley said when asked about whether first place was on anyone’s mind. “All three of those teams are really good.”
“It’s going to be a physical game against all of those teams,” Cooper added. “If we can get rested up, play strong defense again, and body them up and challenge them on everything, I think it’ll be a good competitive weekend for us.”
“Going on the road in the GLIAC anywhere is hard, let alone those three teams,” Dezelski said. “We’ve been playing pretty well this last month and a half so we’re just trying to lock in and be ready to go.”
The Chargers will certainly have to play their best if they hope to exit this week with multiple wins. These next three games will go a long way towards determining the Chargers’ plaoff prospects.