HOUGHTON, Mich. — Hillsdale shot a blistering 81 percent in the first half and fended off a late-charging Michigan Tech team to claim an 83-77 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball win at the SDC Gym today. Tech's Robby Springborn scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half, but the visiting Chargers kept pace and scored the most points of any Tech opponent this season.

Michigan Tech trailed by just two with 2:53 left in the first half and had an open look at a 3-pointer to take the lead. The shot misfired, and Hillsdale finished the half on a 7-0 run for a 33-24 halftime score.

In the second half, the Huskies trailed by as many as 14 but worked back within five (53-48) at the 9:51 mark as Springborn made three straight free throws. Hillsdale pushed the margin back up to 11 with 5:48 to play, but Tech kept chipping away.

The hosts were back within six points or less five different times in the final four minutes but could never get closer than four. A Springborn layup with 1:47 to play closed the gap to 70-66.

Then, in a capsule of the entire game, Hillsdale's Evan Steward made a running layup that bounced high off the rim twice before falling through. He was also fouled on the play and converted the free throw to push the gap back up to seven. The Chargers connected on 8-of-10 free throws in the final minute to finally put the game away.

Springborn led all scorers with 28 points. Freshman Don Fowler matched his career high with 13 points. Kris Alpers tallied 12 points while Tim Strom registered 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

"I thought we gave good effort and worked hard today," said head coach Kevin Luke. "Hillsdale did a good job executing. Their offense was better than our defense. We needed to play a little smarter on offense in the first half to put ourselves in better position to come away with a win."

Tech shot 45.3 percent from the field but was no match for Hillsdale's 59.6 percent overall mark for the game.

Michigan Tech (9-8 overall, 4-5 GLIAC) will remain at home to face Ashland next Thursday (Jan. 24) at 7:30 p.m.