Box score

February 24, 2011 – A six-minute scoring drought at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half doomed the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team in its first-place showdown with the University of Findlay Thursday night.

The Oilers, ranked 10th in the nation, extended their home winning streak to 103 games with a 64-53 win over the 16th-ranked Chargers in a matchup of teams that had been tied for first place in the GLIAC South Division. Hillsdale is now 20-4 overall and 14-4 in the GLIAC. Hillsdale will wrap up the 2010-11 regular season Saturday afternoon in Detroit with a 2:00 contest against Wayne State University.

The Chargers were held to just 20 first-half points, and were victimized by a 14-0 run by Findlay that started in the first half and extended into the second half. A three-point play by senior guard Nick Meinert tied the game 20-20 with 4:27 left in the first half. But by the time the Chargers scored again, they were facing a 34-20 deficit against a team that hasn’t lost in its own building in more than seven years. Deficits like that are difficult to overcome under any circumstances, let alone against one of the top programs in the nation.

As cold as the Hillsdale offense went in the game, much of the credit should go to the Findlay defense, which forced the Chargers into an uncharacteristic number of turnovers and kept them off the offensive boards. Findlay’s defensive effectiveness was shown by Brent Eaton’s two shot attempts in the first half. Eaton entered the game averaging 17 points per game, second in the conference. The Oilers also played to their strengths, which is capitalizing off those forced turnovers, to gain the momentum and the lead.

Hillsdale shot just 39 percent from the field in the game, and went 2-for-18 from behind the 3-point stripe. The Chargers held a 33-30 rebounding edge on the Oilers, but were undone by 21 turnovers in the game. On the other side, Findlay committed just 11 turnovers, and doubled Hillsdale’s scoring output from the free throw line, 30-15.

Only one player scored in double figures for the Chargers, Eaton, who finished with 10 points. Senior Nick Meinert played a strong game at both ends of the floor and had nine points, six rebounds and a steal. Redshirt-freshman Tony Nelson played a nice game off the bench for Hillsdale with seven points in 10 minutes. Sophomore center Nick Washburn had eight points, and Tim Dezelski scored seven with seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
Point guard Kyle Caiola led all players with 18 points for Findlay. Twenty-two of Findlay’s

The Chargers are now out of contention for the South Division title, but can still ensure a home first-round tournament game with a win over Wayne State Saturday afternoon. The Warriors remain one game behind the Chargers in the South Division standings thanks to their upset loss vs. Lake Superior State Thursday night. Because Grand Valley State plays Ferris State Saturday, it’s still too difficult to project where Hillsdale will fall in the overall conference standings heading into next week’s postseason tournament.