By Trudy Chase
Collegian Senior Reporter

The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team traveled to Missouri over the holiday week to play in the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic. The Chargers played two games, going up against Missouri-Rolla on Nov. 30 and nationally ranked Missouri Western on Nov. 29.

“We played a couple of decent games,” junior Chris Northcross said. “We had to deal with a lot of adversity, which is good for us at the beginning of the season. It shows us that we have to step up.”

The team came out of the weekend 1-1, beating Missouri-Rolla 81-68 and losing to Missouri Western 85-75.

After falling within one point of Missouri Western at the half, the Chargers were unable to overcome the deficit when they returned to the court.

“It came down to a 10-point game,” coach Ed Douma said. “They could never quite get over the hump.

“Missouri Western is a very good team. They showed us some things we need to work on defensively. They also showed us that we need to get our offense initiated, and we didn’t do a good job of taking away their paths to the basket.”

Despite the loss, the Chargers saw several good things throughout the two games they played. In addition to several key plays from the starters, good play was seen from players off the bench as well.

Senior Matt Mlynarchek led the Chargers against Missouri Western, scoring 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior Brooks Miller and freshman Cory Coe both scored 17 points, and sophomore Marius Kliokys had six assists.

Against Missouri-Rolla, Coe came off the bench to lead the team in scoring. Coe had 18 points, while Mlynarchek scored 15 and Northcross finished with 12 points.

The team stayed at sophomore teammate Ben Bixenman’s home in Lincoln, Mo., during the duration of the trip.

Before the tournament the men celebrated Thanksgiving with the Bixenman family.

The Chargers opened conference play on Monday against Saginaw Valley State University. The Cardinals defeated Hillsdale 85-72.

Earlier in the season Hillsdale beat SVSU 84-68 in the GLIAC North/South Challenge tournament, which was held Nov. 23 in Detroit.

Senior Jonathon Dues led the team in scoring with 18 points. Mylnarchek scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Northcross tallied 13 and Coe had 12 points against SVSU.

The team will return to the Jesse Phillips Arena to play its first home game of the season Friday.

Coaches and players said they are excited to play at home and hope to see a big turnout from Charger fans.

“It’s nice to play in front of a home crowd,” Douma said. “We have been on the road a lot lately. Hopefully it generates some energy.”

“It will be good to play at home,” Northcross said. “We only play at home once this semester. Hopefully we have a lot of people there, and we get some momentum going, heading into Saturday’s big game against the University of Detroit.”

The Chargers will play St. Francis University in their home opener 7 p.m. Friday.