Findlay men bounce back against tough Hillsdale squad

The University of Findlay men's basketball team was coming off its worst loss of the season coming into Saturday's game against Hillsdale. Last Monday, the Oilers were run out of the gym by Cedarville, 89-57, in a game that snapped their eight-game winning streak. But in Saturday's game against the Chargers, the Oilers arguably played their best game since beating Hillsdale (85-67) on December 18, never trailing on the way to a 61-53 win that keeps them in the hunt for a Great Midwestern Athletic Conference title. "You never know how the response to games like that will be," UF head coach Charlie Ernst said. "Sometimes, they demoralize you; and other times, they pick you up and redirect you. The good news is it served that purpose for us. "But Hillsdale's a good team — there are a lot of good teams in this league — and if you don't come ready to play, you can get your lunch handed to you and I thought that's what happened to us Monday. I thought our guys responded and I'm really proud of them." Except for Monday's game, the script for Saturday's game was almost the same as the Oilers' previous four games: a huge first half by UF that gave it a huge lead. The biggest difference in this game was the Oilers never squandered the lead or let the opposing team get within a possession. Hillsdale got it down to five points, 56-51, with a minute left in the game. Nate Bruns closed the door for a comeback real fast, when he knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key as the shot clock went off with 28.4 seconds left. The Oilers hit a couple of free throws to close the game and held on for the eight-point win. "Two weeks ago? I don't know," Findlay point guard Joey Edmonds said on whether the Oilers win this game earlier in the season. "We've had leads in games and let them slip, but we really came back together today. In those other weeks, we might've played as individuals, gotten frustrated and let it slip away. "I think it showed a lot of growth in this team today, being able to come together and get this win." While Saturday's game didn't follow the same path as the previous few home games, the way the Oilers played against Hillsdale certainly felt the same as last time. Patrick Cartier, Hillsdale's All-American forward, finished with a game-high 25 points and roped in seven rebounds. He went 12 of 16 from the floor. The rest of the team went 11 of 39 for 28 points. In the December 18 matchup, Cartier scored 26 points and went 10 of 13. The rest of the team went 12 of 35 for 42 points. "Our approach in the first game — and it appears that it worked in this game — is that he's going to get his points whether we double him or not, he's that good. His footwork is excellent and his finishing ability with either hand is as good as I've seen and he's a good passer," Ernst said. "So, we felt like let's trust Brady (Wildermuth) and trust Deven (Stover), and if those guys can't do that job, it doesn't mean we leave him on an island, but let's be smart when we come to help. "That was probably the right approach again; he's a boatload, he's really good but I thought we got him on a couple of charging fouls, and I thought that made him a little tentative on defense. He played a lot of minutes, maybe that affected him late." And maybe, the loss to Cedarville was the best thing to happen to this team. "We kind of looked back at our preparation—how we conduct ourselves in the locker room and warmups—because we came out in the game against Cedarville very sluggish and very slow," Oiler forward Brady Wildermuth said. He finished with a team-high 13 points with eight boards. "It was definitely a wake-up call. We gotta keep on the gas, not let up, don't be mentally weak and be sure we close out games instead of letting these guys stick with us. "I really respect Hillsdale as a program and as a competitor. We know that's our rival, so maybe I need to have this mentality a little more—making sure we're locked in right from the get-go. We have to be 100 percent laser-focused right when we get into the locker room." And with the number of games UF plays in the next three weeks, it'll need to be 100 percent laser-focused. From February 10 to February 26, the Oilers have seven games scheduled with one more (Lake Erie) to still be rescheduled. "We've got a really tough schedule left and everyone probably feels like that in our league, but I think especially us, Ernst said. "We play Malone and Walsh twice yet and they're both really good. We have them both this week and it was important to get this win because we're trying to keep pace in this conference." HILLSDALE (15-4, 10-3 G-MAC) Cartier 12-16 0-0 25, Yarian 3-11 3-3 9, Goessler 1-6 0-0 3, Gohlke 0-1 0-0 0, Nau 1-7 0-0 2, Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Reuter 5-11 0-0 11, Applegate 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23-55 3-3 53. FINDLAY (14-6, 8-4 G-MAC) Masterlasco 4-6 1-1 10, Bruns 3-11 2-2 9, Wildermuth 5-8 2-3 13, Gray 1-7 2-2 4, Edmonds 4-10 2-4 11, Stover 3-4 0-0 6, Linder 1-7 0-0 2, Thorbahn 2-4 0-0 6. TOTALS: 23-57 9-12 61. HALFTIME: Findlay, 35-17 3-POINT GOALS: Hillsdale 4-23 (Cartier 1-1, Yarian 0-4, Goessler 1-6, Gohlke 0-1, Nau 0-4, Brown 1-1, Reuter 1-5, Applegate 0-1); Findlay 6-19 (Masterlasco 1-2, Bruns 1-2, Wildermuth 1-2, Gray 0-1, Edmonds 1-6, Linder 0-4, Thorbahn 2-2). REBOUNDS: Hillsdale 34 (Yarian 8, Cartier 7); Findlay 29 (Bruns 8, Wildermuth 8). ASSISTS: Hillsdale 11 (Applegate 3, Goessler 3); Findlay 14 (Gray 6, Linder 4). BLOCKS: Hillsdale 3 (Cartier 2); Findlay 2. STEALS: Hillsdale 5 (Cartier 2, Reuter 2); Findlay 7 (Masterlasco 2, Edmonds 2). TURNOVERS: Hillsdale 16; Findlay 11.