HILLSDALE 53, PARKSIDE 44
It was a defensive battle to open the Thanksgiving Classic for Parkside men's basketball, as the Rangers were held to 16 points in the first half but bounced back for a near comeback in the second half. The Rangers will battle a tough Ohio Dominican squad on Wednesday afternoon to finish the holiday tournament.
 
HEAR FROM COACH REIGEL
"I liked the way we battled tonight," head coach Luke Reigel said. "For a young team on the road against a veteran group I liked the way we hung in there."
"Our new guys found out what Division II basketball is and how physical you have to play. Hopefully we can learn from this and execute better on the offensive end moving forward."
 
FIRST HALF
Parkside was held to 16 points and committed 11 turnovers in the first half on 6-of-23 shooting (26.1 percent) while the Chargers took a 30-16 lead into the locker room. Hillsdale held an 11-2 advantage at the first media timeout and the Chargers kept their lead above double-digits for much of the first half.  
 
SECOND HALF
The Rangers made a run midway through the second half, as an 11-1 run for the Green & White put the score at 36-32 Hillsdale with just over 10:00 to play. After a Brandon Trimble layup and a Cameron Myre triple following the run, the Rangers were down just one point at 38-37 with 9:10 to play, but the Chargers followed that with a quick 7-2 run and didn't let Parkside bring it to a one possession game the rest of the way.
 
STAT LEADERS
Chavares Flanigan led the Rangers in points (10) and assists (4) and finished with seven rebounds. Adam Bonk finished with nine points and hit three 3-pointers while Brandon Hau went for seven points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Parkside outshot the Chargers 34.0 percent to 32.8 percent, but got a huge lift in turnovers as the Rangers committed 21 and the Chargers had just four. Hillsdale won the points off turnovers battle 22-2.
 
A LOOK AT HILLSDALE
The Chargers, who were an NCAA Tournament team last season, improved to 3-1 this season after tonight's win. They lost by single digits to both Oakland and Toledo, who are both division one programs and their lone loss came against last year's NCAA II Champion Ferris State.