Despite a game-high 25 points from junior forward Patrick Cartier, the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team was unable to complete a second-half comeback against the Findlay University Oilers in its only game of the week.
After some early struggles, the Chargers found themselves down by more than 20 points to their conference rivals, whom they had lost to 85-68 at home earlier this season.
The Chargers scored just 17 first-half points, shooting 1-of-10 from three, while the Oilers knocked down five of their 11 triples before halftime, putting Hillsdale in a hole that was ultimately too large to overcome.
“Saturday, I don’t think we came out with the edge we needed to come out with on the road, we need to have an edge coming out of the locker room, and that’s ultimately my responsibility, and that’s the disappointing thing about it,” Head Coach John Tharp said.
The second half saw the Chargers climb back from a deficit as large as 22 points early in the second frame.
A 15-2 run over the course of six minutes dragged Hillsdale back into the game, slicing the differential to single digits. Cartier and freshman guard Joe Reuter each had six of that 15, while junior forward Tavon Brown knocked down the Chargers first three of the second half.
“I think in the second half, we definitely showed fight,” Cartier said. “I think we played OK defense in the first half, but in the second half we started really locking down. In the second half, I was able to get going a little bit and Joe was able to get going, we had some guys making plays.”
After the Oilers pushed their lead back to 13, an 11-4 flurry from the Chargers had Hillsdale within two possessions for the first time since eight minutes into the game.
A side-step three from Findlay’s freshman Nathan Bruns with 30 seconds left iced the game, ending the Chargers’ revenge tour before it started.
“Saturday was obviously a tough loss for us but I think we learned a lot watching film of that game on Monday,” Reuter said. “We had 16 turnovers, we’ve got to take care of the ball more, and we only shot 17% from three, I think those are the two big takeaways there.”
The Chargers have yet to lose back-to-back games this season, and have followed each of their conference losses so far with double-digit wins.
“This is the best the conference has been by far and we’re in a situation where every single night is a dog fight and if we don’t defend and rebound and bang shots, we’re gonna get beat,” Tharp said. “I think it’s just the overall approach of our guys, they deserve the credit in regards to responding to losses.”
Hillsdale drops to 15-5 overall, with a 10-4 record in conference play. Though the team fell from second to third in G-MAC standings, it remains just a half game out of first. Malone University and Walsh University are tied for first, both holding 10-3 in-conference records while Ashland University is tied with the Chargers at 10-4.
Cartier said this just serves to add weight to the team’s upcoming games, against Malone on Thursday and Walsh on Saturday. Winning both games this week would mean Hillsdale would move into, at the very least, a tie for first place in the G-MAC.
“I’m hoping we can get a little revenge game against Walsh,” Cartier said. “Both Walsh and Malone are playing really well, they’re scoring the ball at an extremely high rate, we’ve just got to trust in our defensive identity and preparation. I think transition defense and rebounding are two things that are going to be really important to us this week.”
