The Hillsdale College men's basketball team found itself on the wrong end of a hotly-contested thriller on Friday night, falling 79-77 to host Saginaw Valley State in both teams' season opener.

The Chargers led for for much of the game, including nearly the first 18 and a half minutes of the second half, but struggled to get separation from the host Cardinals, never leading by more than seven points at any point in the contest. Hillsdale was up 67-60 with 6:24 to play after a pair of free throws from Caleb Glaser, and, after a 7-0 Cardinals run to tie the game with 4:58 to go, got back-to-back baskets from CJ Yarian and Ashton Janowski to go up by four with 3:50 in the fourth. 

SVSU came out of the under-four timeout and pieced together a 10-0 run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers that turned a 71-67 Hillsdale lead into a 77-71 deficit to the Cardinals with 56 seconds to play. The Chargers fought hard in the closing seconds, cutting the SVSU lead to 79-77, and Hillsdale got the ball back down two with a chance to tie or take the lead after a pair of missed free throws by the Cardinals. Hillsdale couldn't get a shot off in the final 14 seconds, however, as SVSU escaped with the victory.

Hillsdale had a solid night offensively, with four players in double figures, led by 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench from Connor Stonebraker in the best game of the redshirt sophomore's career. The Chargers benefited from 25 made free throws, as Hillsdale was aggressive throughout the contest to get to the line, and that helped the Chargers compensate a cold shooting night from deep, just 2 of 11 from 3-point range in the loss.

Cole McWhinnie added 15 points, three assists, three steals and four rebounds for the Chargers, Ashton Janowski chipped in 14 points and Caleb Glaser added 10 points and five rebounds for Hillsdale. 

While the Chargers kept SVSU in check from beyond the arc as well, holding the Cardinals to 3 of 12 shooting, Hillsdale struggled to slow down SVSU's Xavier Thomas, who led all scorers with 32 points and was instrumental in the 10-0 run that helped SVSU pull ahead for good.

Hillsdale is now 0-1 on the season, and will get a shot at immediate payback against SVSU, as the two teams play again on Sunday at 3 p.m., this time in Hillsdale, for their next contests.