After losing to the season-leading Cedarville Yellow Jackets last week, the Hillsdale Chargers men’s basketball team dominated its G-MAC rival the Tiffin University Dragons, winning by over double their score in a 73-35 road win in Tiffin, Ohio.

Hillsdale held the Dragons to 17 points in the first half, and a mere 18 in the second. Junior forward Joe Reuter played a major part in the defensive effort, ending the game with three steals and one block. His four forced turnovers were a part of the 15 total committed by Tiffin. 

Despite a season-low six points, Reuter grabbed 13 rebounds, 11 of them being defensive rebounds, as well as one assist. Reuter attributed the increase in rebounding to a new gameplan. 

“I talked with our coaches and they have pushed me to rebound more so I’ve been focusing on attacking the glass defensively and trying to find more ways to get us a possession with an offensive rebound so it’s been my focus to try and continue to do more of that,” Reuter said.

Offensively, sophomore guard Ashton Janowski led the Chargers in scoring with 15 points, making seven of his 10 shot attempts. Janowski also had one assist and one steal in his 28 minutes of gameplay.

In addition to Janowski, senior guard Samuel Vasiu had a successful day shooting the ball, scoring 14 points and making six of his seven shots, as well as one rebound and one assist. Charles Woodhams also had 10 points himself, along with seven rebounds. 

The Chargers saw productivity off of the bench as well. Freshman guard Mikey McCollum continued in his role as sixth man, scoring nine points, grabbing two rebounds and one steal in 22 minutes. Another freshman who saw some productive playing time down the stretch was forward Caleb Glaser, who finished with six points and five rebounds. 

Ten Chargers put up points against the Dragons, improving upon the 56 points they put up against Tiffin in their victory on Jan. 6. The victory puts them in 6th place in the G-MAC, right behind the Ashland University Eagles, who the Chargers will face at home on Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. 

Head Coach Keven Bradley was unable to travel with the Chargers, but assistant coaches John Cheng and Evan Morrissey traveled with the team to Tiffin.

“I thought our guys were really locked in,” Bradley said, “They did a great job executing our gameplan, which can be really challenging to do on the road. It was a fun game, and being able to get a sweep against a good team in our conference is always huge.”

The Chargers shot 53% from the field, improving the team shooting percentage to 47% this year. Hillsdale also outrebounded Tiffin as a team 41 to 29, and converted 19 points off of forced turnovers, as well as providing 22 points from their bench players. 

“I think the biggest takeaway from the game on the road at Tiffin was how connected we were.” Sophomore C.J. Yarian said, “We played great team defense the entire game and didn’t let up.”

The Chargers will continue its road trip against the Walsh Cavaliers on Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m, and then will face the Lake Erie College Storm in Ohio on Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. Hillsdale will look to avenge a home loss to the Cavaliers from January.