Charger men; nice and easy off the glass

By RJ Walters / Daily News Sports Editor

An exclusive Walters 'n Words blog

In Thursday's edition of the HDN I said I'm completely confident the Charger men's basketball team will finally advance past the first round of the GLIAC Tourney.

Thursday's suave little 75-74 escape in Northern Michigan didn't sway my view one way or another — it just means Hillsdale is finally getting the bounces as opposed to the opposition getting one last roll. And I'm okay with that.

The most impressive stat is that the win marked the sixth time this season the Chargers have fought back from a halftime deficit to pull  a win and on Thursday that margin was 11.

Also, Tony G. continued to tower above opponents, somewhat circa 2007-08, with 30 points, 16 boards and three blocks. Sure Katie Cezat scoffed at what she would call"just another game", but points in the paint and rebounding is an essential the Chargers must utilize to keep this season alive.

Northern is far from the creme De la creme of the GLIAC, but they are pretty much on par with the Northwood's of this league and also have a win over Ferris State this season, a possible first-round matchup for Hillsdale.

If Keith MacKenzie can just finish out the year shooting the ball a high percentage, while keep his turnovers low and Gugino can make the Chargers an inside-outside monster I like what the fruits of their labor might be.

Here's the entire game wrap from Hillsdale College Sports Information:

An offensive rebound-layup by seven-foot senior Chris Skaggs gave the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team a remarkable 75-74 victory Thursday night over Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

The come-from-behind victory pushes the Chargers’ record to 13-10 overall and 11-8 in the GLIAC. Hillsdale remains in second place in the South Division and in control of its own destiny to host a first-round conference tournament game.

Skaggs used his seven-foot frame and long arms to grab a rebound off a missed shot by Keith MacKenzie, and gently laid the ball in off the backboard with 1.1 seconds left to give the Chargers the lead. NMU was unable to get a shot off with such little time remaining, giving Hillsdale an escape-type victory on the road.

The Chargers trailed by 11 points at halftime, giving them their sixth win this season when trailing after 20 minutes. Hillsdale did a much better job at exploiting its matchup advantages in the second half, and carrying that load was senior center Tony Gugino, who had his finest game of the season.

Although he fouled out of the game with 2:03 left, Gugino finished with 30 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots. Twenty of his points and eight of his rebounds came in a second half that saw Hillsdale outscore Northern Michigan 43-31.

The Wildcats specialize in the 3-point shot, and used that along with their sound execution on offense to build an 11-point halftime lead. After shooting 52 percent in the first half, NMU shot just 34 percent in the second half, while the Chargers shot 54 percent in the final 20 minutes.

The Wildcats led in the first half by as many as 15 points, but Hillsdale wasted little time in making the game close in the second half. A 14-2 Hillsdale run in the first six minutes of the second half was sparked by eight points from Gugino and a pair of three-point plays by junior Luke Laser. That made it a 48-46 game with 13 minutes remaining, and the nailbiting began from there.

NMU was able to hold on to the lead until a Gugino layup gave the Chargers their first lead of the contest with 3:40 left in the second half. In an amazing run of scores and stops, neither team led by more than one point in any part of the game’s final three minutes. It would be Skaggs who made the final swing in the lead, giving Hillsdale a tough win on the road.

Laser had 11 points and four rebounds for Hillsdale, while freshman Brad Guinane played a strong game off the bench, making all three of his shots, scoring 10 points in 12 minutes on the court. Skaggs was 4-for-5 from the field and had eight points in the win.

Read more...

Reason for worry in Chargerland?

By RJ Walters / Daily News Sports Editor

An exclusive Walters 'n Words blog post

Ok, so maybe worry isn't right word. It could be disappointment or surprise or — scratch that — worry is a fine worf.

The Hillsdale Charger women lost just their third game of the season Thursday night, but the way they lost, when they lost and what kind of team they lost to is somewhat alarming. If the Charger women were just another team that I thought would flame out in D-II postseason play anyways then I wouldn't think twice about a one-point loss on a deep 3-pointer with six seconds left to a GLIAC foe. But I expect, as do most fans I think, that this is the type of team that is the exception not the norm at HC.

But now I'm worried. For starters, Hillsdale jumped out to a 15-0 lead against a team with a 7-11 GLIAC mark coming into the contest and couldn't close them out. At tourney time the better team doesn't always win because of unpredictable waves of momentum, but the Chargers let a team that isn't much more that a collection of hot-and-cold guards have the last say Thursday.

The Chargers held the Wildcats to 9-of-31 shooting from the field in the first half, but Northern shot a scorching 56.3 percent and drained 5-of-11 from downtown in the second half. Defense and rebounding are the trademarks of Charney's ladies and last night the Chargers failed at both over the course of the final 20 minutes. Against a Wildcat team that has no consistent post presence on offense and no single player who averages even six rebounds a game the letdown is unacceptable.

The Charger guards fight through screens and play help defense as well as any team I've seen this year, so it's fine to attribute some of NMU's hot-shooting to their players, but not all of it. Janay Miller and Brooke Knight rarely lose track of their assignments, and it's hard for me to understand how they can keep Grand Valley's guards at bay all game long, but not Northern's.

Also, at first glance an 18-for-24 performance from the charity stripe from the Charger is more than sufficient, but upon further review it is a misleading stat.

Per Diem, Cezat was really the one at the line, as she took 20 of those, sinking 16. Whenever the rest of the team combines for four free throws it symbolizes a lack of aggression or the sheer inability to penetrate the defense. Earlier this season the Charger guards were deferring to Ceazt too much a times, but they've solved that in a big way over the last 4-6 weeks. Maybe it was the sub-zero temps in Marquette that froze the Chargers up or maybe last night was just a reminder of what happens when they get out-rebounded and the only player in attack mode is Cezat.

It's easy to get caught up in all of the successes and achievements of this landmark Charger's squad, but the players don't want to just go to the national tournament, they want to show the nation what this incredible team from little old Hillsdale, and a school of just 1,200 playing in a league of giants, is one of the best, if not the best.

I want to look back on Thursday's shocking loss as a great lesson, but giving the timing it might be looked back on differently.

The Chargers had FINALLY gained the ever so evasive top spot in the Midwest Regional Rankings as of Wednesday, setting them up to host the first few rounds of D-II tournament play. Michigan Tech had faltered, and Hillsdale leapfrogged Northern Kentucky just in time to go beat the Wildcats and punch Tech in the face on Saturday, before finishing things off next week.

To lose a game to a sub-.500 GLIAC squad with so much on the line is disappointing after working so hard to position themselves to pack Jesse Phillips Arena in less than a month is bitter.

Thursday simply shook my dreamy vision of what the Chargers were and what they could be. All I'm asking is for them to quickly remind me of what has made us fall so hard for them in the first place.

Some relationships are just dependent on results and success and this is one of them.

Here is the entire game recap from Hillsdale College Sports Information:

An NBA-range 3-point field goal by Northern Michigan’s Kelsey Deacon with six seconds remaining game the host Wildcats a 69-68 upset of the No. 5-ranked Hillsdale College women’s basketball team Thursday night in Marquette.

The Chargers are now 21-3 overall and 16-3 in the GLIAC, and will travel to Michigan Tech University for a Saturday afternoon showdown of conference division leaders.

Deacon’s shot came after an oft-used, but rarely executed strategy pulled off by the Wildcats. NMU’s Steffani Stoeger purposely missed the second of two free throws, after her first make made the score 68-66. Northern Michigan’s Angie Leckson grabbed the offensive rebound and passed the ball out to Deacon, who drained a basket from well beyond the 3-point arc. The Chargers were unable to get a shot off on the final possession of the game.

Northern Michigan shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half, compared to 39 percent for the Chargers. Hillsdale led the game 33-23 at halftime.

The Chargers opened the game red-hot in the ice-cold arena in the Upper Peninsula. Hillsdale held a 15-0 lead through the game’s first 10 minutes. NMU didn’t make a basket in the game’s first 10 minutes, and didn’t make a two-point basket until six minutes remained in the first half.

But 3-point baskets proved to be the major difference in the game. The Wildcats outscored the Chargers 27-6 in shots from behind the arc, making 9-of-21 in the contest.

Hillsdale led through most of the game, with the Wildcats taking their first lead with 7:14 left in the second half. NMU took 10 more shots from the field than Hillsdale, thanks in part to a 13-8 edge in offensive rebounds, none bigger than the one coming in the game’s final seven seconds.

Charger senior Katie Cezat had another monster game for the Chargers, finishing with 32 points and 21 rebounds. She was 16-for-20 from the free throw line, the second-highest totals of her career in both makes and attempts. She now has 21 double-doubles this season, 11 30-point games and eight 20-rebound games.

Thanks to her 32 points, Cezat broke her own single-season scoring record, set last season. She now has 681 points during the 2008-09 season.

Senior Katie Eckinger and junior Janay Miller each scored 11 points for the Chargers. Hillsdale’s three losses this season have come by a combined total of five points. Deacon scored 23 points for the Wildcats.

Read more...