Junior forward Joe Reuter grabs a rebound in the Michigan State University Game. Courtesy | Isabella Sheehan
The Chargers fell to the Spartans 85-43 in East Lansing as a new Hillsdale men’s basketball starting lineup challenged No. 4 ranked Michigan State University in exhibition play Oct. 25.
“Anytime that you get an opportunity to play against a great team like Michigan State, you kind of get exposed with your flaws and things that you don’t do correctly,” head coach Keven Bradley said. “They punish you for them.”
After graduating six seniors last year, the Chargers had only one returning starter in the contest, junior forward Joe Reuter. Reuter was joined in the starting lineup by sophomores Ashton Janowski, Walt Mattingly, CJ Yarian, and senior Charles Woodhams.
Mattingly led Hillsdale in scoring with nine points, including two baskets from behind the arc for 3 each. Reuter scored seven points and led the Chargers with eight rebounds, and junior guard Cole McWhinnie added seven points, three rebounds, and three assists.
The Chargers fell behind 3-20 early in the first half as the Spartans dominated the game on both ends of the court. The Chargers came up short in the remainder of the half to trail by 27 points at halftime.
“Our transition defense was pretty poor,” Bradley said. “That’s a huge credit to them, what they do, and how they play. They put so much pressure on you to get back on defense, every single play. And so we gave up about 20 points on dunks and layups just in transition.”
Reuter said the team adjusted their offense heading into the second half.
“In the locker room, we realized that we had to set better screens within the motion, and I think that’s something we really did well was run offense better for that first stretch of the second half,” Reuter said.
According to Mattingly, offense in the second half improved but still wasn’t enough against a Division I team.
“We were doing our screening and hitting bodies like coach was telling us to, but overall it was a tough game,” Mattingly said.
Hillsdale shot 25% from the floor and 16.7% from the 3-point line in the contest, compared with Michigan State who shot 55% and 34.8% from deep. Despite the loss, the Chargers showed strength in their rebounding, having 42 total rebounds, including 17 offensive rebounds.
The entire dressed roster saw playing time, with ten players scoring for the Chargers.
“We have a lot of young guys who haven’t been exposed to a lot of playing time yet,” Reuter said. “I kind of look on that as a good thing because they’re malleable. They’re open to change, and they’re open to learning.”
The Chargers will begin their regular season against the Warriors at Wayne State in Detroit on Nov. 10 before facing the Saginaw Valley Cardinals at home on Nov. 12.
“It was a great experience for our guys, but we also know that we’ve got a long ways to go and this is a process,” Bradley said. “Our goal week to week is to get a little bit better than we were the week before. We’re going to continue to keep working and keep thinking about those things we weren’t very good at against State and then try to improve those going into this week.”