The men's basketball team started off the spring semester with an impressive 72-60 victory over conference opponent Northwood University, pushing the Chargers to 10-8 overall and 5-3 GLIAC.
“We played with a lot of heart,” head coach Ed Douma said. “We had an intense desire to win. There was great play from our seniors, our guards played well and we had efficient play from our centers.”
Sophomore John Hamood was one of four Chargers scoring in double figures, leading the team with a career-high 19 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
“I was just very comfortable last night,” Hamood said. “There are so many guys who are capable of having a big game every once in a while on this team, so it helps to have that distribution. My defense really gets me going and I feel that the better I play on defense, the more aggressive I can be on defense.”
Just like they have done all season, the Chargers spread out their scoring to eight different players, including senior Ben Bixenmann and sophomore John Farr, who chipped in for 13 points apiece, as well as junior Cory Coe's 12. The team attributes their distribution of the scoring to everyone becoming more comfortable with Coach Douma's new offense and working together as a team.
“With every game and every practice that we play, we get more comfortable with the offense, and we can read situations in the games a lot better now than in the beginning of the season,” Coe said. “Everyone compliments each other's playing style, and we know that no one is going to be able to stop everyone on this team.”
“We have so many players that are capable of having a big game,” Hamood said. “We simply need to stay aggressive on the offensive end and continue to put pressure on the opposing team's defense in order to be successful.”
Over the Christmas holidays, the Chargers went 5-5, which included a three game losing streak, two games of which were lost in overtime. Despite a .500 record over the break, the team is happy with the way they played and are looking to correct some mental errors, so they will not make the same mistakes in the future.
“It was disappointing,” Douma said. “We played a couple games we had the lead in the last few minutes, and we should have won, but we could not pull it out. So, it was nice to go to Indianapolis and play well and then to get a big win against Lake Superior State.”
“Our team really needs to improve on our mental mistakes,” Coe said. “There were a few games that we should have closed out, but made some mistakes and didn't make the needed plays, but that will just make it easier next time around.”
Hillsdale's next game is tonight at home against Mercyhurst at 8 p.m.