Hillsdale 74, Ohio Dominican 53

February 9, 2012 - The Hillsdale College men's basketball team had a fever, and the only cure wasn't more cowbell, but a trip to Alumni Hall on the campus of Ohio Dominican University.

The Chargers recovered from a frustrating loss last weekend at Northwood to post a 74-53 win over the host Panthers in Columbus, Ohio Thursday night. The 23rd-ranked Chargers are now 19-3 overall and 13-2 in the GLIAC, maintaining their overall lead in the conference. The team will face a stiff road test Saturday at Tiffin in a 3:00 contest.

Even Christopher Walken may have been impressed with Hillsdale's effort on the road in this game, as the Chargers were aggressive in their transition game, and did a good job of countering any scoring runs the Panthers attempted with longer runs of their own.

Ohio Dominican opened the game by taking a 9-4 lead, and the start of the game appeared to be a fearful extension of Hillsdale's loss to Northwood in its last game. But the Chargers shook off any remaining doubt with a 12-0 run that gave them the lead for good with 12:29 left in the first half.

Hillsdale's lead grew to as large as 17 in the first half, though the Panthers cut that to 10, 39-29, by halftime. ODU threatened again early in the second half, cutting the lead to nine, 45-36. But Hillsdale responded in impressive fashion, going on another 12-0 run to open the lead up to 21 points.

Sophomore guard Darius Ware energized the team with his speed going end to end in the first half, and scored a season-high 14 points. He leaked out on the fast break off missed shots by the Panthers, and his teammates did an excellent job of finding him out ahead of the defense on several occasions. Ware provided a big spark to the team with his first-half play.

Senior forward Brad Guinane led the Chargers with another steady all-around effort with 16 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs. Sophomore Tim Dezelski was at the heart of the team's outstanding ball movement throughout the game, and flirted with a triple double, as he finished with nine points, six rebounds and a career-high eight assists. Hillsdale recorded 20 assists as a team, third-most in a game this season.

Sophomore guard Brandon Pritzl had 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting, while senior forward Brent Eaton hit three 3-point baskets on his way to 11 for the ballgame.

Hillsdale shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half, and limited the Panthers to 35 percent shooting for the game. The Chargers punished the Panthers on the boards, outrebounding ODU 39-26 in the game.