On a night where the 15th-ranked Hillsdale College men's basketball team struggled to get in rhythm offensively, the Chargers' defense was undeniable in a 59-52 slugfest victory over visiting Ohio Dominican in the G-MAC opener for both teams.

Playing at home, the Chargers locked down ODU in the first half, holding the Panthers to just 16 points, and forced ODU into 33.9% shooting from the floor in a game where the Chargers never trailed.

Hillsdale led by as many as 18 points in the first half, suffocating ODU defensively and threatening to run away with the game. The Panthers fought back with a tough defensive effort of their own, pulling to within four points multiple times in the final three minutes of the game, but the Chargers answered every run and made it difficult for ODU to get the scoring necessary to complete the comeback. 

Charles Woodhams and Mikey McCollum each hit big 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes of the game to end runs by the Panthers, and both players made critical plays in the final 1:15, with Woodhams converting a late shot clock layup to put Hillsdale up by six point with 1:14 to play, and McCollum recording a steal on the ensuing possesion and making both free throws after being fouled to stretch Hillsdale's lead to eight and put the game largely out of reach.

 Woodhams led Hillsdale with 14 points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and chipping in six rebounds, and McCollum added 13 points and five rebounds as well. Junior Ashton Janowski was a first-half spark for the the Chargers offensively, finishing with 11 points and three assists, while Joe Reuter chipped in seven points and nine rebounds as well. C.J. Yarian added three points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Chargers, who won the rebounding battle and got 23 bench points with nine different players contributing baskets in the victory.

Hillsdale improves to 7-1 with the victory, and 1-0 in G-MAC play, and remains at home with another conference contest on Saturday at 3 p.m. against a tough Malone squad who's off to a solid start in the 2024-25 season.

Photo by Hope Canlas