The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team started off its week in disappointing fashion. But they couldn’t have ended the week any better. After a tough 75-70 loss in overtime on the road against Tiffin University, the Chargers bounced back at home against Ohio Dominican University, routing the Panthers 87-56.
“We played with a lot of energy,” assistant coach Brian McCauley said about the Chargers’ win over Ohio Dominican University. “I was impressed by the way we played on both ends of the floor.”
The Chargers shot 68 percent from the field, including 61.1 percent from beyond the arc, while holding their opponent to just 31.2 percent field goal shooting.
“It starts on the defensive end,” sophomore Kyle Cooper said. “Today we got going a little bit and got out in transition.”
Cooper benefited from the Chargers’ transition offense, garnering two dunks, including a high flying one handed alley-oop finish that set the Jesse Phillips Arena abuzz.
“I’m going to take it as a good compliment,” Cooper responded when asked whether anyone has ever compared his dunking ability to the dunking prowess of Blake Griffin, a power forward on the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and a former slam dunk contest champion.
“I’ve never been asked that before.”
Cooper’s dunks may have stolen the show, but forward Tim Dezelski was the offensive MVP with 25 points on 10-16 shooting. Jason Pretzer provided a spark off the bench with 15 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting effort from the field.
The rout of Ohio Dominican University came a couple of days after the Chargers lost a heartbreaker in overtime at Tiffin University, in which they led by 19 points midway through the first half, but weren’t able to put away the Dragons in crunch time.
“It’s been the same story all year, we just didn’t capitalize down the stretch,” Dezelski said. “We had opportunities to put it away.”
The Chargers never trailed throughout regulation, and the only tie came when Tiffin’s Kelvin Toma sank a runner at the buzzer to force overtime.
“They tried to speed us up a little bit, and we let it affect us,” McCauley added. “We just weren’t able to make a couple plays there at the end.”
With the loss, the Chargers face a tough predicament. In order to have a realistic chance of winning the GLIAC, they must win all of their remaining five games, beginning tonight on the road at Lake Erie.
“Our backs are against the wall,” Dezelski said. “Every game we’ve got to win, so we’re just coming out with a fighting attitude, and lots of intensity on both ends of the floor.”
Following the game against Lake Erie, the Chargers will travel to take on Ashland on Saturday afternoon. The Chargers recently beat both teams a few weeks ago at home relatively comfortably, but won’t be taking any chances on the road this week.
“The road in the GLIAC is always hard to win on so you’ve got to buckle down a little more,” Dezelski said. “Every possession matters.”
“They’re even more competitive on their home court,” Cooper said, referring to Lake Erie and Ashland University. “We need to approach it like a whole new game, the past is out of the question, and we’ve just got to come ready to play.”
The Chargers will look to carry over their momentum from their blow-out win over Ohio Dominican University into their upcoming games. The GLIAC tournament may not technically start until March, but for the Chargers, it starts tonight.
