Head coach John Tharp reached a historic mark in his coaching career on Thursday, winning the 500th game of his career as the Hillsdale Charger men’s basketball team split a pair of key G-MAC matchups.

Two days after Tharp’s achievement in a big win over Malone, the team dropped a crucial game in Ashland that could put its regular season title hopes in jeopardy. 

Adding to a week of impressive individual achievements for the program, on Tuesday four Chargers, the maximum number of athletes that can be named from a single team, were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team.

The team has excelled on the court as well this year, winning at least 19 games for the sixth straight season, the longest such streak in program history. The Chargers’ latest win — their 22nd of the season — etched Tharp’s tenure further into the record books.

Tharp adds to his resume as the winningest head coach in program history, with 296 wins with the program, over 100 more than any other coach in Charger history.

He became just the 17th active NCAA DII men’s basketball coach to reach the milestone, holding a 500-256 career record.

“I was pleased to win my 500th game with this particular team, which I hope embodies what I hope our team would look like,” Tharp said. “[They’re] Tough, share the basketball, skilled, and deep.”

Before coming to Hillsdale in 2007, Tharp spent 13 seasons coaching at Lawrence University, leading the D3 program to a record 204 wins.

“There’ve been a lot of blessings in my life, a lot of very talented assistant coaches and great players, and I’ve been gifted the gift of time, I’ve been blessed with time,” Tharp said.

In the midst of his 16th season, Tharp is also the longest-tenured coach in program history, and has continued to form relationships with his players and maintained his competitive attitude both on and off the court.

Fifth-year guard Jack Gohlke remembers fellow Wisconsin-native Tharp inviting him over to watch a Packers game during Gohlke’s freshman year.

“A lot of people know he’s a huge Packers fan, and I’m a Wisconsin guy as well, but I’ve always been more of a fantasy football guy than a Packers guy,” Gohlke said. “We all know he’s pretty competitive and gets into games and Dalvin Cook scored a touchdown and I started cheering for him, and immediately he kicks me out of the house and says ‘if you cheer for the Vikings, you’ve got to leave.’”

In addition to Tharp’s milestone, seniors Cole Nau, Kyle Goessler, and Peter Kalthoff, and sophomore Charles Woodhams each made their first appearance on the CSC Academic All-District team. Players considered for the award must hold a 3.5 or better GPA, and be a starter or meaningful contributor. 

According to the CSC’s press release, honorees advance into consideration to make the CSC Academic All-American teams, which are announced in mid-March.

“It feels amazing to be recognized for all the hard work that my teammates and I have put in on and off the court,” Woodhams said. “Our coach recognizes that we play at an academically rigorous college and is all there to support us.”

The team started its play this weekend with Tharp’s 500th win, which came in a blowout, 90-67, victory over the Malone Pioneers on Thursday. The team racked up 23 total assists while holding the Pioneers to just nine.

“We played very well Thursday both offensively and defensively,” Tharp said. “We achieved nine out of our 10 offensive goals. We had a really high assist total, shot the ball really well, and defended really well.”

Fifth-year center Kalthoff and senior guard Goessler led five Chargers who notched double-figures in scoring, with 20 and 18 points a-piece. Goessler and senior guard Nau each dropped eight assists, marking a new career-high for Goessler.

“I just felt really comfortable playing in that game,” Goessler said. “I think everyone else would agree, everything that we were doing seemed to be working and we were playing together super well.”

The win set up a crucial conference matchup with the Ashland Eagles, who took down the Chargers 80-67. After keeping pace with the Eagles in the first half, a second-half stretch of more than six minutes where the Chargers scored just four points led to their downfall.

“They have some really good players that we didn’t guard as a team like we had hoped,” Goessler said. “Learning from that experience and hoping to get another shot at them, knowing what we’re capable of, to be better the next time.”

Gohlke knocked down six threes and led the team with 24 points, though the rest of the Chargers roster combined to shoot just 37% from the field. 

“At this point in the year, everything is blown up with the positon we’ve put ourselves in,” Tharp said. “Every game is significant, if you had said at the beginning of the year, ‘would you take a split this weekend,’ I probably would have taken it, but with the circumstances we’re in right now, we needed more than a split.”

The loss means that Hillsdale no longer controls its own destiny to secure the No.1 seed in the conference tournament, though it can clinch a share of the regular season title with a win in its regular season finale on Saturday. 

To take the title outright, it will also need Ashland and Walsh to each lose one of its two remaining games.

Taking the top seed in the G-MAC tournament, however, requires only one loss from Ashland, in either its game against Malone on Thursday, or against Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday.

The Chargers don’t have a game scheduled for Thursday, so Gohlke said the team will be monitoring the results of Ashland’s matchup with Malone.

“It’s never fun to share the conference title, you want to always win it outright, so we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on that one,” Gohlke said.

According to Tharp, various Chargers are dealing with injuries including backup guard Ashton Janowski, who has missed the team’s last four games with an ankle injury. 

“We took Tuesday off, we need some rest, we’re banged up,” Tharp said. “Jack didn’t practice most of the week last week, and Pete didn’t practice most of the week, so we’ve got some guys that are nicked up right now. Part of this is keeping them physically and mentally fresh, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Following its Saturday game against Findlay, the team is guaranteed a home quarterfinals matchup to open the G-MAC tournament on Tuesday with a to-be-determined opponent at 7 p.m.

“Findlay’s always a fun place to play, especially the last game of the season,” Goessler said. “It’ll be a fun atmosphere and I think we’ll show them what we’re made of.”