The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team honored graduating senior forwards Tavon Brown and Austen Yarian, and grabbed a key, 79-67 win over the Lake Erie College Storm to move into second place in the G-MAC.
The team used a hot start to take a 14-point lead into halftime, and big baskets from its upperclassmen helped to close out the Storm in the final minutes of a senior-night win.
The Chargers have gotten hot at the right time, building a three-game win streak and pushing themselves into second place in the conference with just two games remaining on their regular season schedule.
The team remains one game behind Walsh University, and must win out and hope for Walsh to lose at least one of its remaining games to have a shot at a third-straight G-MAC regular season title.
“I think we benefited from those two tough losses to Findlay and Malone and that gave us some motivation to keep working to get better toward the end of the season,” Yarian said. “This is the best time of year for basketball, we’re getting into the conference tournament and NCAA tournament-play time, we’ve just got to finish out the year strong and give ourselves the best chance at making the tournament.”
Before the game, Brown and Yarian were honored in front of a crowd of 1,121 for their five years with the team. Yarian was flanked by six basketball team alumni and friends and reflected fondly on the team’s culture during his career.
“On senior night, my dad wasn’t able to make it right at the start for the walkout, and some of my old teammates stepped up and walked me out, that just shows the family and brotherhood that we have within our program,” Yarian said. “I’m just appreciative of all the guys that laid the foundation for the program and gave me an opportunity to continue the tradition we have here.”
After coming off the bench in the previous nine games, Brown was reinserted into the starting lineup, and was joined by his family during the pregame ceremony.
“Honestly, before we got announced, it was pretty emotional, it was just crazy thinking I only have a few more games here,” Brown said. “It was good playing in front of my family, I’ve always loved doing that, whenever they get to come to games, it’s always a joy to play in front of them. Then having all the alumni back, I just wanted to play hard and show them what it means to be a Hillsdale basketball player.”
During the game, the Chargers came out hot behind 23 combined first-half points from juniors Patrick Cartier and Jack Gohlke. The second half was much closer, with the Storm outscoring the Chargers by two.
“In that first half of basketball, I thought we did some really good things, I don’t think we played very well in the second half,” Head Coach John Tharp said. “But I thought our two-three zone in the second half was incredibly successful for us and gave us some great minutes.”
The second half featured highlight-reel plays from Hillsdale’s upperclassmen, including four dunks, three by Cartier and one, off the bounce, by Brown, as well as a long three from Yarian in the game’s closing minutes.
Though they still have multiple games left in the regular season, Brown and Yarian already boast careers where they helped lead the Chargers to back-to-back conference championships and the first ever trip to the NCAA final four in program history.
Brown has started 40 games in his career to date, and is coming off a season where he made the G-MAC all-defensive team.
“Tavon Brown embodies who we are as a program,” Tharp said. “He really is a heck of a teammate, he cares a great deal about the team and the guys he plays with, and whatever role we’ve asked him to fill, he’s done that at the highest level. In regards to that, you couldn’t have asked for a better person in representing the college, he has really grown at Hillsdale, I think it’s been a win-win for Tavon, and I’m super proud of him.”
Yarian currently sits as the 30th best scorer in program history with 1132 career points and the 10th best rebounder in program history with 737 career rebounds.
“These have been the best five years of my life,” Yarian said. “I think it was my junior year, the first time Coach Tharp won in Findlay, after that game in the locker room and the bus ride back to Hillsdale, was something I’ll never forget. Everybody was having fun and excited on the bus and it just gives you perspective on how much everyone means to everybody.”
Cartier was also honored over the weekend, making the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District team for the second year in a row.
“Pat embodies everything that I hope Hillsdale College stands for and what we’re supposed to be about,” Tharp said. “We’re supposed to be student-athletes in today’s world, and that’s exactly what he is. He cares about academics greatly, works hard at it, and Pat’s a great player, so he deserves to be recognized that way.”
The Chargers have two games remaining in their regular season, at home against Tiffin on Thursday, and in Ashland for their season finale on Saturday.
“When we’re playing meaningful basketball this time of year, there’s certain things that you have to do particularly well, usually those are just the fundamentals, getting back on defense, rebounding the basketball, being in the gaps, taking care of the basketball offensively, being as sharp as you can,” Tharp said. “You can’t get caught up in this game is more important than another game, you’ve just got to focus on one possession at a time.”
