The #24 Hillsdale College men's basketball team never found its rhythm offensively on Saturday afternoon, and that proved to be fatal against a tough opponent in #5/8 Findlay in a 76-71 loss at home.

The Chargers shot just 5 of 23 from deep and 41.3% from the field, trailing for almost the entire game after briefly taking a 10-6 lead five minutes in. 

Hillsdale struggled to consistently break down a stout Findlay defense, backed by full-court pressure that meant the Chargers were often initiating offense late into the shot clock. 

Despite shooting poorly from the field, Hillsdale battled hard and found ways to stay in the game, especially in the second half. Trailing by as many as 13 points with 9:45 to play, the Chargers were able to work the ball inside and attack the paint to great effect to pull within five points with 1:23 to play. After scoring just 14 points in the paint in the first half, Hillsdale got 22 points inside in the second half, helping the Chargers claw their way back into the game.

Ultimately, however, the Chargers ran out of time to pull off the comeback. Down by five with under 90 seconds to go, Hillsdale was forced to foul, and Findlay was too good at the free throw line down the stretch to give the Chargers an opening, making 11 of 14 from the line in the final 90 seconds to keep the Chargers at bay.

Joe Retuer finished with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals to lead the Chargers, Ashton Janowski chipped in 12 points, and Logan Beaston added 11 for Hillsdale.

Charles Woodhams came close to a triple-double for Hillsdale, with nine points, six rebounds and six assists, while Eric Radisevic chipped in eight points in 14 minutes as well.

The Chargers remain in the league title hunt at 15-4 overall and 9-2 in G-MAC play, but have now lost back-to-back games and face a critical stretch where Hillsdale has to keep winning to keep pace and set up a potential title-deciding rematch down the line with Findlay in late February. First up is a trip to Cedarville on Thursday to face a Yellow Jackets team that will be hungry to play spoiler after a blowout loss to the Chargers in Hillsdale earlier this month.

Photo by Emma Purdy