February 4, 2010 - Thursday night's men's basketball game between Hillsdale College and Ferris State at Big Rapids turned out to be quite emblematic of what is quickly becoming a memorable season for the Chargers.

Hillsdale faced a 14-point deficit on the road, but rallied for a 96-85 win over the Bulldogs. The Chargers have now won six in a row and seven of their past eight, and are now 8-11 overall and 8-7 in the GLIAC. The team hopes to keep the streak alive with a Saturday night tilt at Grand Valley State starting at 8:00.

The win pushes Hillsdale into second place in the GLIAC South Division. The Chargers are currently tied with Wayne State for second with identical 8-7 conference marks, but Hillsdale gets the spot, for now, thanks to its Jan. 9 win over the Warriors.

Hillsdale opened the season losing 10 of its first 11 games, not unlike how it faced a 36-21 deficit with 6:30 left in the first half Thursday night. But hard work and improved offense have not only turned the Chargers' season around, those were key to the team rallying in this game.

Hillsdale was behind for more than 30 minutes Thursday night, trailing by as many as 14, and were down 65-56 with 11:06 left in the second half. But in an amazing display of offense, Hillsdale scored 40 points in the game's final 11 minutes, achieving a new season-high in points scored.

The Chargers shot a blazing 73 percent from the field in the second half (14-for-19) and also set a new season-best with a 63 percent mark overall for the game. Even more remarkably, the team put those numbers together while getting just five points from leading scorer Brent Eaton.

The team used separate runs of 10-3 and 12-3, each spanning 3 1/2 minutes, to wipe out Ferris State's lead. By the time the second scoring run ended, Hillsdale held a 70-68 lead it wouldn't lose for the rest of the game.

Hillsdale went 35-for-44 (80 percent) from the free throw line, booted in a big way by the charity stripe shooting of senior Luke Laser (11-for-13) and sophomore Tyler Gerber (11-for-12). Both players turned in terrific all-around games for the Chargers.

They shared scoring lead honors for the Chargers with 21 each. Laser also had five rebounds and five assists, while Gerber handed out seven assists and swiped three steals.

Sophomore forward Matt Clarke set a new career-high scoring mark with 12 points, while sophomore Brad Guinane was aggressive offensively all night, with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Please click on the link below for the box score from Thursday's game.

Chargers 96, Ferris State 85