The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team knew going into this season that success would be dependent on having a balanced offense. This weekend, it was confirmed.
Four Chargers scored in double figures in their 85-53 win over Malone on Friday night and five hit double digits in their 94-57 rout of Ohio Valley on Saturday night to give Hillsdale a 2-0 start to the season.
“It was exactly how we had to play offensively. When we moved the basketball and we screened the way that we’re supposed to, we executed pretty well,” head coach John Tharp said. “The balance was a positive. We had a whole bunch of guys give us really good minutes and do different things for us.”
In their season-opener against Malone on Friday, the Chargers fell behind 17-7 early before turning things around. Hillsdale finished the half on a 29-13 run and outscored Malone 49-23 in the second half.
“We started the game just really sloppy,” junior guard Stedman Lowry said. “Maybe it was just first-game jitters. But then in the second half we just really started clicking.”
Junior guard Ryan Badowski led the Chargers with 25 points against Malone on 9-of-12 field goal shooting. Badowski was named the GLIAC South Division Player of the Week on Monday.
Senior forward Rhett Smith scored 14 points, Lowry added 11 points, and redshirt freshman point guard Dylan Lowry scored 15 points off the bench on 6-of-6 shooting in his Hillsdale debut.
“Dylan has hit shots for us,” Tharp said. “He’s gotten people open by his passing ability and has played really good defense.”
Against Ohio Valley on Saturday, the Chargers never trailed and pulled away early. Hillsdale led 44-23 at halftime and played add-on in the second half.
“It’s really easy to play down to your competition and not play well when you’re playing not as good a team, but we took care of business pretty easily,” Stedman Lowry said. “That definitely gave us a little confidence boost.”
Four of Hillsdale’s starters scored in double figures. Lowry led the Chargers with 17 points on 5-of-8 3-point shooting. Badowski scored 16 points, sophomore point guard Nate Neveau added 12 points, and senior center Nick Archer tallied 11 points.
Redshirt freshman guard Mike Travlos scored 12 points off the bench.
“Mike Travlos is one of those kids that when he sees one go in he can score in bunches,” Tharp said.
During the preseason, the Chargers focused on improving defensively and running a high-paced offense. Both paid off over the weekend.
On Friday, the Chargers held Malone to 37.5 percent field goal shooting and forced 10 turnovers. Against Ohio Valley, the Chargers forced 20 turnovers and allowed just 32.3 percent field goal shooting.
“We have done a better job of taking away some 3-point shots by the opposing team. We’ve done a little bit better job of having the right guys rotating which has allowed us to protect the basket,” Tharp said. “We’re making the right adjustments, and those guys deserve all the credit for that.”
An improved defense allowed the Chargers to break out in transition.
“When we do get stops, it allows us to play really fast a lot easier,” Lowry said. “We rebounded a lot better too so that also allows us to run. And our offense was really clicking.”
The Chargers shot 56.7 percent from the floor against Malone and 52.8 percent against Ohio Valley.
“We ran harder than we did all of last year in just those first two games,” Tharp said. “Scoring in transition isn’t always a transition layup or a transition 3. It’s just some simple movement that we’re using. We’re doing some better things with the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, which allowed us to score more than what I think we were expecting us to score this year.”
The Chargers will play their home-opener at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena on Saturday afternoon against the Indianapolis Greyhounds of the GLVC. Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m. Last year, the Chargers opened their season with a 92-87 upset over the then eighth-ranked Greyhounds.
“That was their one home loss of the season, so they’ll be looking for revenge,” Lowry said. “These are just really big wins you need because only a certain amount of teams get into the NCAA Tournament from both conferences.”
