The Hillsdale College men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead in a must-win game on Thursday, but couldn't overcome turnover issues in a narrow loss to rival Findlay at home, 71-68.

The Chargers turned the ball over 20 times, including 12 in the second half as Findlay rallied back from an eight point halftime deficit to tie the game at 62-all with 2:50 to play. The Oilers followed that up with baskets at the rim on back-to-back possessions to cap an 11-0 run that turned a seven point Hillsdale lead into a 66-62 Findlay advantage with 2:01 to play.

Hillsdale continued to fight, getting two made free throws from Caleb Glaser on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 66-64 with 1:32 to go. Even after Findlay converted an and-one with 1:15 to go that got Hillsdale down multiple possessions, the Chargers stayed alive on a Cole McWhinnie 3-pointer with five seconds to go to trail just 69-68. Hillsdale was forced to foul and Findlay converted both free throws, giving Hillsdale the ball back with three seconds and a chance to tie. The Chargers' buzzer-beater was off-target, however, as Hillsdale fell 71-68.

Findlay turned Hillsdale's 20 turnovers into 27 points, critical in a tight game where the Oilers were struggling to score in the half court. The Chargers were able to overcome the Oilers' efforts with a strong shooting performance in the first half, shooting 66.7% from the floor and knocking down five 3-pointers to lead by as many as 12. Hillsdale cooled off in the second half, however, shooting 43% from the floor and just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes.

Junior Caleb Glaser had another strong game for the Chargers, finishing with 14 points and four rebounds, while McWhinnie chipped in nine points and two steals. Ashton Janowski added eight points and Connor Stonebraker finished with eight points and four assists for Hillsdale. CJ Yarian added six points, five rebounds and three assists for Hillsdale, and Garrett Bolte led the Chargers on the boards with 10 rebounds.

Hillsdale (10-17, 7-12 G-MAC) hosts the regular season finale on Saturday against rival Northwood, with tip-off set for 3 p.m. It will be Senior Day for the Chargers, who will honor graduating seniors Janowski, McWhinnie and Jacob Meyer with a pregame ceremony. Hillsdale isn't completely eliminated from G-MAC Tourney contention yet, but must beat the Timberwolves and get help from results elsewhere to have a chance to snag the final spot in the field.