The third-seeded Hillsdale College men's basketball team entered Tuesday night's G-MAC Tournament quarterfinal game against sixth-seeded Ashland needing a lot to break its way in order to play again in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena this season.
On a magical night, everything that could go the Chargers' way did, as Hillsdale took down the visiting Eagles 76-59, and, thanks to losses by top-seeded Findlay and second-seeded Kentucky Wesleyan in other quarterfinals around the G-MAC, earned the right to host the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament on their home floor in the process.
The Chargers handled business against a physical and talented Ashland team, leading wire-to-wire in the contest and holding the Eagles to just 59 points and 43.4% shooting from the floor. Hillsdale was locked in defensively, containing G-MAC Player of the Year candidate Maceo Williams and holding the talented forward to just 10 points on the night, half his usual output.
That left the Eagles heavily reliant on wing Cooper Davis for their offense, and one player wasn't enough to combat Hillsdale's impressive offensive balance, with four players in double figures.
The Chargers seized control early, taking a 10-2 lead four minutes in on a thunderous dunk by
CJ Yarian, and continued to pour it on, leading by as many as 21 points at the 7:45 mark of the first half when a
Logan Beaston 3-pointer put Hillsdale up 33-12.
Playing to keep their season alive, the Eagles refused to lay down, stringing together an impressive run to start the second half driven by Davis that cut Hillsdale's edge to 50-45 with 12:17 to play. With the game and the season in the balance,
Mikey McCollum caught fire for the Chargers, answering Ashland's charge with 11 points in three minutes to put the Chargers back up 13 with 7:57 to go.
While Ashland wouldn't go away, they never got as close to threatening Hillsdale's lead again, as the Chargers played well at both ends down the stretch to close out the Eagles.
Hillsdale's gameplan worked to perfection, as the Chargers outrebounded the physical Eagles 37-26 and gave up just four offensive rebounds. McCollum led Hillsdale in scoring with 19 points, including five three pointers, off the bench, while Chargelws Woodhams chipped in 17,
Ashton Janowski added 13 points and six assists, and Beaston finished with 10.
Senior
Joe Reuter just missed both a double-double and giving Hillsdale five scorers in double digits with eight points and 11 rebounds, while Yarian added an impactful seven points and six rebounds off the bench.
Hillsdale improves to 20-9 with the victory and now get to go for the G-MAC Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on their home floor. The Chargers play in the semifinal round on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against seventh-seeded Malone, who upset Kentucky Wesleyan 72-62 on the road today. Hillsdale beat Malone both times it faced the Pioneers in the regular season, but won't overlook Malone with the stakes so high for both teams in the semifinal round. On the other side of the bracket, fourth-seeded Thomas More takes on the team that knocked off regular season champion Findlay, eighth-seeded Cedarville, in a 5 p.m. semifinal for the right to advance to the championship game, scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.
Photo by Emma Purdy
