After one of its worst defensive performances of the year on Saturday, the 13th-ranked Hillsdale College men's basketball team came into Monday's home contest against Northwood determined to right the ship at that end of the floor.
Mission accomplished for the Chargers, who put the clamps on the Timberwolves to roll to a 69-55 victory and head into the Christmas break at 9-2 overall.
After a tough start that saw Northwood go 7 for 7 from the floor to take an early 14-10 lead, Hillsdale locked in defensively, holding Northwood to just 4 of 17 shooting for the rest of the half, and 28.9 percent shooting in the second half. That defensive dominance helped the Chargers close the first half on a 22-6 run to turn a 21-17 deficit into a 39-27 lead at the break, then used another 14-4 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half to push their advantage to over 20 points. Hillsdale led by as much as 68-42 before a late run by the Timberwolves narrowed the final gap.
Offensively, it was a special night for senior Austen Yarian, who finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists for his first double-double of the 2021-22 season, and reached a special career milestone as well. Yarian's basket with 6:36 remaining in the first half pushed him past 1,000 points for his career as a Charger, making him just the 40th player in Hillsdale College's 120-year history of men's basketball to reach that milestone.
It's a special accomplishment for Yarian, who saw playing time almost from the moment he arrived at Hillsdale as a freshman in the fall of 2017, and has played a critical role for the Chargers in each of the past four seasons, including on the team's run to the NCAA DII Sweet 16 in 2020-21. He'll have plenty more chances to add to that total this season.
Junior Patrick Cartier also continued to shine for the Chargers, finishing with 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting for his eighth game of 20 or more points in 11 contests this season. Redshirt freshman Charles Woodhams chipped in nine points on 4 for 4 shooting off the bench as well for Hillsdale, junior Jack Gohlke hit two 3-pointers for six points and chipped in five rebounds, and junior Cole Nau added five points and two assists.
Hillsdale heads into the new year at 4-1 in G-MAC play, a half-game behind undefeated Malone in second place. The Chargers travel to Lake Erie on Sunday, Jan. 2 for their next game, the start of a critical stretch of conference contests against many of the league's top title contenders to kick off 2022.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop