The Collegian

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Sports

Despite suffering two losses this past week, Charger men's basketball heads to Grand Valley State University Saturday for the GLIAC Tournament. Grand Valley comes in as both the No. 1 seed and host of the tournament, and is No.2 in the country for Division II.

A win in their final regular season game at Wayne State University Saturday would have given the Chargers a first-round matchup against Gannon University rather than Grand Valley. But the team is not looking back.

"We had hoped to go to Gannon for sure," assistant coach Dan Evans said. "But now we have a chance to go to GVSU and play them a second time and give them all they can handle."

The men lost a lopsided home meeting with University of Findlay Thursday, 82-59, and a tight game to Wayne State Saturday, 80-73.

Though Hillsdale defeated Wayne State by 20 points in their previous encounter, Saturday's game took an unexpected turn.

"We were up by 14 or 15 midway through the second half," freshman Nick Meinert, a guard, said. "They made a run, and we just never weathered the storm."

The Chargers turned the ball over, gave up too many transition baskets, and dribbled in the lane too much, Meinert said.

Evans said Wayne State threw the team out of rhythm offensively in the second half disrupting the game plan.

"Our hope was to pound the basketball inside as much as we could," he said. "We felt our ability to score inside was a huge advantage. Their pressure took us out of any offense that we had tried to run up until that point."

With packed bleachers and intensity levels high on both benches, Findlay grabbed a lead early Thursday and never let go. Evans said the Chargers didn't play at a high enough level to compete.

"Findlay's size and athleticism just wore us down more and more as the game went on," he said.

Guard Evan Steward, a junior, said many factors contributed to the loss.

"I don't think we played too bad on defense," he said. "But after our offense went down hill, our defense did too."

With the conference tournament starting March 1, Steward said the team has mixed feelings about the regular season.

"I think we surprised some people with how we came out," he said. "I think we players all hoped we would have played better and had a better record. But we had a lot of close games; it was a grueling season."

Grand Valley represent a fierce opponent Saturday, but the Chargers plan to stick with the basics to get the job done.

"In the end it comes down to playing your game and executing the things you need to do to win the basketball game," Evans said. "No matter who you're playing - whether it's Wayne State or the No. 2 team in the country."


Hillsdale College Collegian 2008

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