The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team used a dominant game from the bench to trounce Ohio Valley University and clinch the outright regular season conference crown for the first time since 2012 on Saturday. And a win over Tiffin University on Wednesday improved the Chargers’ to 18-1 with a conference-leading 15-game win streak.
In the 2019-2020 season, the Chargers shared the regular season title with the University of Findlay, who had a matching conference record. This year, a win streak that more than triples any other team in the conference led Hillsdale to its first ever outright G-MAC title.
“What our guys have done throughout the whole length of the season, I’m really proud of them, and anytime you win conference championships, whether they’re shared or not shared, it’s pretty special,” head coach John Tharp said. “I’m really proud of our guys. Winning is a hard thing to do.”
Claiming the regular season conference crown means that during the G-MAC tournament, set to begin on Tuesday, March 2, the Chargers get home court advantage, regardless of opponent. The winner of the tournament will be awarded an automatic bid into the Division II National Championship tournament.
Hillsdale dominated OVU from tip to buzzer, winning with a final score of 107-66. The Charger’s 107 points are the most in a single-regulation game in more than a decade.
“We were really clicking, there was a stat that we had 28 assists, which is big. We were sharing the ball, with everyone contributing,” sophomore guard Kyle Goessler said. “Of course we had the big guys inside who were finishing, they make things really easy.”
Sophomore forward Patrick Cartier and senior guard Connor Hill led the team in scoring, with 22 and 20 respectively. It marked the 10th time that Cartier, who leads the G-MAC in scoring with 19.8 points per game, has scored 20 or more points this season. Hill’s scoring has picked up significantly in recent weeks, as he scored 20-plus for the third time in the last four games.
Cartier’s solid day came on an astounding 9-12 from the field. With a minimum of 160 shot attempts, Cartier’s season shooting percentage of 63.24 leads not only the G-MAC but the entire nation. His 129 made field goals this season is second in the nation for those who have played 17 games. While his stats are impressive, Cartier commends his teammates sophomore forward Tavon Brown and senior forward Austen Yarian for their help this season.
“It’s really important for us to have that inside presence, especially because we’re an inside-out oriented offense,” Cartier said. “Tavon and Austen also being down there help us have a great presence down low. I think the guys on my team have done an awesome job of giving me easy looks, I’ve just got a pretty easy job of finishing a lot of the times.”
A large part of the Chargers’ win was the huge boost they received from their bench. Goessler had 13 points, including three threes and a dunk, while also grabbing six rebounds.
“It was a really good feeling. Coming off the bench is really easy, playing with the starters, screening, playing defense, moving the ball,” Goessler said. “It’s a good feeling knowing when you come in, you gotta just be confident and you’ll fit right in with everyone else that’s out on the floor.”
Going into the game, Hillsdale ranked second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio. On Saturday, the Chargers dished out 28 team assists, while holding their opponent to just eight.
“We are about ‘team.’ These guys are just playing team basketball, and being there for each other on both ends of the floor,” Tharp said. “When we do that, we win games, but when we don’t, when we don’t screen, or cut, or get to our gaps, it can get bad pretty quick.”
The team’s nationally third-ranked scoring defense also played a significant role in the win. OVU’s Keon Claiborne and Cameron Shaw, who entered the game as the seventh and ninth best scorers in the G-MAC, were held to just 30 combined points. The Chargers held OVU to just one made three-pointer the entire game, with none coming in the second half.
“I think we have a really prideful group on that end of the floor, we’ve made sacrifices in terms of giving up a few things to take away other things,” Tharp said. “I think the guys have really executed the idea of certain game plans, and they played great team defense as well.”
With 2:15 remaining, and the Chargers up 106-62, Tharp called a timeout to empty his bench. As play began to resume, Tharp shared a group-hug with Hill and his fellow senior Davis Larson.
“I’m proud of those seniors and what they’ve done, those guys have contributed a ton for us,” Tharp said. “Davis was coming back from ACL surgery, combined with Connor’s tenacity, absolutely that moment was special for me, I hope it was for them as well.”
The Chargers added to their win streak with a late comeback to take down Tiffin on Wednesday night, 85-83. Hill and Cartier combined to score every point on a 10-4 Hillsdale run with under three minutes remaining.
With only one game remaining in the Chargers’ regular season, Tharp’s goal is to keep the team sharp and focused.
“Our job is to continue to try to get better, and be as sharp as we possibly can, we’ll go about our business this week like it’s any other week,” Tharp said. “We’ve got to keep playing with an edge, as soon as you lose that edge, as soon as you relax, as soon as you stop doing the things that you’ve done, then I think that momentum can go the other way just as quick as it can go positive.”