INDIANAPOLIS – Ohio Dominican sophomore forward Hasan Varence (Queens, NY/Columbus Linden McKinley HS) was announced as the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week on Monday.
 
Ohio Dominican was one of two teams to lock in bids for the eight-team Great Midwest Championship that will be conducted at Findlay.
 
The Panthers, winners in seven of their last eight, have momentum steamrolling in their direction as the regular season comes down to a close. Kentucky Wesleyan also secured a postseason bid looking to cut down the nets in March for the third consecutive season.
 
Varence, an athletic big, helped ODU take down Hillsdale and Lake Erie at home while producing a pair of double-doubles in each contest.
 
Once considered a bubble team trying to get into the conference tournament a few weeks ago, the Panthers (15-10, 10-8 G-MAC) are surging in the second half of the league schedule.
 
Since January 20, ODU has won seven conference games, including three that went into overtime (Walsh, Trevecca, Lake Erie). The only setback in that torrid stretch was a loss at Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
Varence averaged 17.5 points and 13 rebounds per game while shooting 48 percent from the field on his shot attempts.
 
He had 13 points and 13 boards against Hillsdale, a quality win for ODU with the Chargers in the top half of the conference standings. Later in the week against Lake Erie, he came through 22 points and 13 rebounds.  
 
Varence is ranked near the top of several statistical categories including rebounding (3rd – 9.8), field goal percentage (4th – 49.5%) and is also top 15 in both scoring and blocked shots.
 
Head coach Dan Evans and his program has Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins left on the schedule before the conference tournament.