Chargers smash through major roadblock with win over Lakers

[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignright" width="182" caption="Freshman guard Tyler Gerber hit a circus shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime and finished with a career-high 15 points to go with five assists. Photo by Pete Mowry, Hillsdale College."][/caption]

By RJ Walters / Daily News Sports Editor

As published in the Hillsdale Daily News on Feb. 9, 2009

There are exciting, memorable moments and there are program changing, career defining moments.

Saturday was the latter and not a single person in attendance at Jesse Phillips Arena will soon forget the experience.

For the first time in the seniors' careers they beat Grand Valley State (15-6 over­all, 10-6 GLIAC) and for the first time in head coach John Tharp's two-year tenure his team proved they deserve to be mentioned among the conference's elite programs as they took down the Lakers 86-83 in overtime.

The 5-10 Hillsdale freshman Tyler Gerber played like he had been dominating the GLIAC for years and hit an acrobatic circus shot at the buzzer in regulation to send the game into overtime and Luke Laser hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the extra period to finally “slay the dragon” that is the Lakers as Tharp put it.

“We've never really had that big win, like where we beat a ranked team or a team like Findlay or Grand Valley, so we talked all week about how this was going to be the greatest week in the two years here,” Hillsdale senior guard Keith MacKenzie said.

The range of emotions down the stretch was as wild as they get in the crazy world of sports, thanks in part to MacKenzie who finished with 12 points and four assists.
Gerber drilled a 3­-pointer off a ball screen to lift the Chargers (11-9, 9-7) to a 64-63 lead with 3:55 to play, but Grand Valley's star guard Pete Trammel answered with a triple of his own less than 30 seconds later.

Gerber decided to one up Trammel by draining another 3-pointer on the en­suing possession, with exactly 3:00 to play.

“He's ice cold, he loves to compete and I think he's got a chip on his shoulder for his size,” Tharp said about his freshman from Baltic, Ohio. “When I saw him in Las Vegas for the first time I said that's a guy I'd love to see run our program some day.”

Then the Chargers did just enough to hang on — or so it appeared — when Travis Worst knocked down a layup and Laser and Worst both hit a pair of free throws to go up 73-70 with 28.8 seconds left.

But the Lakers were not done. Forward Justin Ringler drove baseline and laid the ball in for two with 21.9 remaining, when a crucial mistake by MacKenzie forced the crowd to hold their collec­tive breath. Dribbling the ball up­court MacKenzie had the ball jarred loose by Wes Trammell, who dished the ball off to Ringler who charged to the rim and banked the ball off the glass, while also being drilled by Charger senior Tony Gug­ino.

A made free-throw later, it was suddenly a 75-73 Lakers lead with just 12.2 seconds showing on the clock.

“I was swearing under my breath a little bit, I'll tell you that,” Tharp said. “There was a second where my heart went out to the guys because I felt like they had battled and clawed and you didn't know how things were going to play out.”
Instead of calling a timeout Tharp chose to let his players be players. Gerber received the ball at mid-court before driv­ing aggressively toward the basket where Wes Trammell blocked his layup attempt with just over five ticks to play. Somehow the ball ricocheted out to Charger's senior Travis Worst who found Gerber on the baseline, where Gerber made one of the prettiest plays to ever grace the Phillips hardwood.

He drove baseline right past Trammell, went up with the basketball under the basket, twirled through to other side and guided the ball right to the rim, where it fell through the net as he fell hard to the ground with the buzzer sounding. It was heading to overtime.

“I saw an opening and then he blocked my shot and I was like 'Oh crap,” and then Travis made a nice pass and I don't know, it was kind of a like a circus shot,” Gerber said. “Sometimes it's not about skills, it's about a little luck and I'm just thankful we got a win somehow, some way.”

The somehow, some way in overtime was some crucial buckets and rebounds from senior Tony Gugino and Laser's game-breaking 3­pointer with just over a minute to play.

Laser scored 14 points in the contest, but it was Gugino who had his best game of the season Saturday.

He played under control the entire contest and was a force down low on offense and a pillar of consistency on defense. He was 8-for-13 from the floor en rout to a season-high 29 points and he added 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Tharp couldn't have been happier for his big man.

“I think Tony was not too high, not too low, just rock solid,” he said. “Grand Valley is just a big, physical team and they pound on him and I thought he handled himself extremely well and I'm proud of him.”

Gerber finished the contest with a career-high 15 points to go with five assists against just two turnovers.