Box Score

March 4, 2012 - For the second time in three years, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team lost to the University of Findlay in the GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship Game.

The Oilers used a physical and stifling first-half defense to pave the way to a 71-52 win over the Chargers in front of 1,072 fans at Hillsdale's Jesse Philips Arena. Hillsdale is now 24-5 on the season.

But the team's Sunday ended on a good note, as it learned it qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002. The Chargers enter this year's Midwest Regional Tournament as the #3 seed and will face sixth-seeded University of Indianapolis Saturday at Bellarmine University. Bellarmine is located in Louisville, Kentucky.

The conference championship game went in nearly the opposite manner from the regular season meeting between these two teams in Hillsdale. In that December matchup, the Chargers exploded out to a 28-2 lead before hanging on for a 74-69 win, its first over Findlay in more than nine years.

But in this tournament championship game, it was Findlay who took a huge lead early in the game, leading by a 24-2 score with 6:40 left in the first half. The Oilers set the tone early, scoring their first nine points off 3-point shots. In Saturday's semifinal win over Wayne State, Findlay made just four 3-point baskets, but the team increased that to a red-hot 8-for-15 clip in Sunday's game against Hillsdale.

The Chargers faced a 31-12 halftime deficit, but started getting into a better offensive flow int he second half. The only problem was that Findlay continued to make outside shots. Led by tournament Most Outstanding Player Kyle Caiola, the Oilers continually crushed the spirits of the Chargers with made jump shots from any spot on the floor, regardless of Hillsdale's defensive coverage, which was solid throughout the game.

A 3-pointer by senior Brad Guinane drew the deficit down to 12, 43-31, with 10:56 left in the second half, the closest the team would get. But the Oilers countered every made shot from Hillsdale from that point on, eventually regaining a 20-point lead.

The Chargers were ice cold from the perimeter, in contrast to Findlay's outstanding shooting performance. Hillsdale was just 2-for-16 from behind the 3-point stripe (12 percent) for the game, its worst performance of the season in that statistical category. It was the team's lowest percentage in 3-pointers and fewest makes in any single game this season.

The Chargers outscored the Oilers on points in the paint (28-18) and had six more points off turnovers (19-13) than Findlay, which are typically two keys to beating this traditional GLIAC powerhouse. But the Oilers' deadeye shooting from the field negated those advantages by the Chargers.

Caiola led the champion Oilers with 22 points. He was 7-for-10 from the field and made all eight of his free throws.

Findlay shot 52 percent from the field, 53 percent from the 3-point line, and 94 percent from the free throw line. By contrast, the Chargers shot only 36 percent from the floor. 

Guinane, who was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second time in his career, led Hillsdale with 13 points, to go along with six rebounds. Sophomore Tim Dezelski was also named to the GLIAC All-Tournament Team, and collected 10 points and nine rebounds for the Chargers.