After a 67-58 home loss to their G-MAC rival Walsh Cavaliers on Thursday, the Hillsdale men’s basketball team bounced back with a dominant win against another conference opponent, the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, in an 80-60 rout, improving to 11-6 on the year.
The Chargers had their work cut out for them going into the matchup against Walsh, with Cavaliers sophomore guard Kobe Mitchell putting up 25 points, shooting 10-13 from the field. Mitchell leads the Cavaliers with 18.6 points per game.
The Chargers were outscored 33-17 in the first half, making only 22% of their shots. They would go on to score 41 points in the second half, but it was not enough to overtake the Cavaliers, who put up 34 of their own.
Junior forward Joe Reuter led the Chargers in scoring against Walsh, putting up 18 points, and going 6-6 from the free throw line. Reuter has led the Chargers in scoring this year, putting up 15.7 points per game.
The Chargers would put the disappointing loss behind them on Saturday, dominating offensively against Kentucky Wesleyan with 80 total points. Reuter contributed 14 of those points, while also grabbing 9 rebounds and 3 steals.
“I think the biggest difference was our pace offensively in the Kentucky Wesleyan game compared to when we played Walsh.” Reuter said, “I think when we play that quick it’s easier for us to loosen up and not be as tight and let the game kind of come to us.”
Although the first half was an offensively focused game, with the teams combining for 87 total points, the Chargers held the Panthers to only 19 points in the second half, while also scoring 22 points off Panther turnovers.
Additionally, senior guard Samuel Vasiu earned a career-high 17 points against Kentucky Wesleyan, while grabbing four rebounds and two steals. In his first year as a starter, Vasiu has averaged 22 minutes per game, as well as contributing 7.2 points per game. Another new starting guard for the Chargers this season is sophomore Ashton Janowski, who has averaged 9.1 points per game and scored 14 points against the Panthers.
Off the bench, freshman Mikey McCollum has seen meaningful minutes, averaging 6.4 points in 18 minutes per game. McCollum contributed 14 points in the Chargers loss against Walsh, with a 66% field goal percentage.
“We came out the game with a much better start against Kentucky Wesleyan,” McCollum said, “Which set the tone for the rest of the game compared to Walsh where we had a very slow first half.”
In his first season as head coach, Keven Bradley has led the Chargers to an impressive 11-6 record. Bradley had spent the last three seasons with the program under current Athletic Director and former head coach John Tharp, and now leads a very young Charger squad, featuring only three seniors.
“Thursday night against Walsh, we did not move the ball well enough.” Bradley said, “We got caught up in too many one-on-one situations, but on Saturday I felt like we moved the basketball much better, which allowed us to make more plays. The ball movement was definitely a drastic difference between the two games last week.”
Despite the loss to Walsh, the Chargers saw some G-MAC success throughout December and the beginning of January. Hillsdale finished with a 3-2 record during the month of December, with notable wins against Ohio Dominican at home in a close game that ended 60-54 in favor of the Chargers, as well as a road win against the Northwood University Timberwolves 76-51.
The Chargers headed into the spring semester with a 2-2 record in January, including wins against the Tiffin Dragons and Thomas More Saints. McCollum led the Chargers in scoring and rebounding against Tiffin with 10 points and 8 rebounds, while senior guard Charles Woodhams led the scoring against Thomas More with 15 points.
The Chargers have two games remaining in January. Northwood will travel to Hillsdale to face the Chargers tonight at 7:00, after which the Chargers will travel to Ohio to face the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets on Saturday, January 27.