The Hillsdale College men's basketball team couldn't get the better of host Kentucky Wesleyan down the stretch in a high-scoring 88-81 thriller on Thursday night.

The contest was a high-octane affair offensively that saw both teams shoot well from the floor and put up points in bunches in a back-and-forth game that included 27 lead changes.

Ultimately, however, Hillsdale couldn't get enough defensive stops to keep pace with Kentucky Wesleyan down the stretch, as the Panthers shot a scorching 63% from the floor and 47% from 3-point range in the second half to pull ahead and secure the lead for good in the closing minutes.

The Chargers held their last lead at the 11 minute mark in the second half, taking a 63-61 edge on a Connor Stonebraker layup. KWC pulled ahead for good just before the ten minute mark on a 3-pointer, one of four the Panthers would hit down the closing stretch.

Hillsdale continued to make a hard push to retake the lead, cutting the deficit to one point multiple times over the next five minutes, but KWC seemed to have an answer for every basket, and a pair of 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the game put the contest out of reach.

Despite the loss, the Chargers had one of their best offensive games of the season, shooting 55.9% from the floor and 41.2% from 3-point range in the contest. Junior Caleb Glaser posted the latest in a string of impressive games to lead the Chargers, scoring 21 points and adding eight rebounds. Stonebraker and Braylon Morris each chipped in 13 points off the bench and Ashton Janowski added 10.

Cole McWhinnie had a huge night distributing the ball for the Chargers, finishing with a career-high 10 assists to go with eight points, three rebounds and two steals for the Chargers. McWhinnie's 10 assists are the most by a Hillsdale player in a single game this season, and tied for the fourth most by a G-MAC player in a game so far this season.

Hillsdale (5-9, 2-4 G-MAC) finishes off its Kentucky road trip with another tough game on Saturday at Thomas More. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.