In each of its first three games of the season, the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team shot better than 50 percent from the field. Uncoincidentally, the Chargers have won all three games.
Junior guard Stedman Lowry scored 28 points on 11-of-13 shooting on Saturday afternoon as the Chargers took down the Indianapolis Greyhounds 89-70 at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.
“It always makes you look better doesn’t it, when you make shots?” Chargers head coach John Tharp said. “When Stedman gets off the start that he got off, it just makes us so dangerous.”
All five Hillsdale starters scored in double figures. Senior forward Rhett Smith made all 8 of his free throws and scored 15 points. Junior guard Ryan Badowski added 14 points. Sophomore point guard Nate Neveau nearly recorded a triple-double with 14 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds, and senior center Nick Archer scored 10 points.
“That was the thing I think I was most proud of when I saw the box score,” Tharp said. “Our five starters were in double digits, and that’s how we’re going to have to operate this year as a program. They all did different things that helped us win this game.”
The Chargers made their first 5 shots of the game to take a 12-3 lead with 16:23 remaining in the first half. Lowry made two 3-pointers in that stretch, both from well beyond the arc.
After Indianapolis scored 8 straight points, a 16-7 run gave the Chargers a 28-18 lead with 7:56 left in the first half. At that point, Lowry had outscored Indianapolis himself with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
“I told Stedman that he needs to play like an All-American for us to be successful. And it doesn’t mean that he’s going to have 20 points in the first half, but he needs to cut the right way to get other people open,” Tharp said. “He got in a great rhythm. Guys got him open. Give credit to his teammates for getting the ball in the right hands.”
The Chargers continued to extend their lead in the first half. With 4:38 remaining, sophomore point guard Nate Neveau intercepted a pass, ran the length of the floor, and made a layup through contact. Neveau made the free throw to give the Chargers a 38-24 lead.
Hillsdale took a 43-28 lead into halftime. The Chargers shot 53 percent (16-of-30) from the floor in the first half while holding the Greyhounds to 36-percent shooting (12-of-33).
After a back-and-forth start to the second half, the Chargers took a 20-point lead with 9:58 remaining. Lowry hit back-to-back 3-pointers again to give the Chargers a 67-47 advantage.
The Chargers maintained their lead comfortably down the stretch as the Greyhounds never seriously threatened to make a comeback.
“We knew that if we got them down they were going to be pressing, trapping, and taking some risks,” Tharp said. “And we handled that OK.”
The Chargers shot 52.8 percent (28-of-53) from the floor and made 10 of their 22 3-point attempts (45.5 percent).
“We had a long week and I was a little worried about our energy, but I thought we played with a great pace,” Tharp said.
The Chargers held the Greyhounds to 43.1 percent shooting (25-of-58) and forced 10 turnovers.
Tharp said Hillsdale’s ball-screen defense was “below average,” but he credited Archer, Neveau, and Badowski for playing good defense.
“Those guys did some things,” Tharp said.
Now the Chargers face a quick turnaround as they continue their nonconference schedule on Tuesday at Lewis at 8:30 p.m.
“The rest of our nonconference schedule is a pretty tough schedule, but our guys have great energy and great enthusiasm,” Tharp said. “We’ve got to keep fighting for everything. As soon as we take a rest or break or think we’re all this, that’s when things are going to go bad.”
