The #16 Hillsdale College men's basketball team got its first big in-region test on Sunday, facing off against an undefeated Northern Michigan squad averaging over 80 points per game.
Consider that test passed -- with flying colors.
The Chargers dominated Northern Michigan in the second half, outscoring the Wildcats 38-20 and holding Northern Michigan more than 30 points below their season average to date in a 74-53 victory that improved the Chargers to 6-0 on the season.
It's Hillsdale's best start to the season in a decade -- since the 2012-13 season -- and tied for the second-best ever start in head coach John Tharp's 16-year tenure at Hillsdale.
The Chargers torched the Wildcats with red-hot outside shooting in the contest. Hillsdale shot 51.9% from 3-point range in the victory, with 14 makes. A large part of that total came from senior sharpshooter Jack Gohlke, who was 8 of 13 from distance for a career-high 26 points, including 5 for 9 in a second half run that blew open what had been a close, competitive contest up to that point.
Gohlke's eight 3-pointers are the most in a single game by a Charger player since Stedman Lowry twice knocked down nine in a single game in the 2016-17 season, and also just two shy of the program record set by Tim Homan against Saginaw Valley State on Dec. 8, 2007.
Hillsdale got strong complimentary scoring around Gohlke from the rest of its starting five. Sophomore Joe Reuter hit three 3-pointers of his own to finish with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, while senior Kyle Goessler scored 10 for his sixth-consecutive double-digit scoring game to open the season, while chipping in four assists and two steals as well. Point guard Cole Nau had an efficient game in 29 minutes running the show for the Chargers, finishing with five points, four rebounds and three assists while committing zero turnovers. Center Peter Kalthoff added five points and 10 rebounds for the Chargers.
Off the bench, Charles Woodhams scored seven points in 11 minutes to give the Chargers a spark, while Ashton Janowski and Eirc Radisevic each chipped in four points as well.
While the Chargers' shooting touch was the headliner on Sunday, just as important, if not moreso, was Hillsdale's work on the defensive end. The Chargers ground down a Northern Michigan team that had scored 90 or more points in three of its four victories to open the season, holding the Wildcats to just 23.3% shooting from the floor and 0 for 15 from 3-point range in a dominant second half. Hillsdale shut off Northern Michigan's transition game, holding the Wildcats to just five fast-break points in the contest. That forced NMU to earn its points in the half-court, going into the teeth of a physical and fundamentally sound Charger defense that consistently denied the Wildcats easy looks at the basket.
The Chargers are now 6-0 overall with one final non-conference game before the beginning of G-MAC play in December. Hillsdale hosts Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, November 26. The Chargers coasted to a 71-55 win over the Cardinals at Saginaw Valley on Nov. 13, but will be on guard against an athletic and revenge-minded Cardinals squad on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Photo by McKenna Eichholz