INDIANAPOLIS – The calendar year is coming to a close as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors continued with Monday afternoon’s announcement.
 
Three league contests were completed over the past week along with a pair of Division I exhibitions and a non-conference game between Findlay and Trevecca Nazarene.
 
Hillsdale (3-0, 3-0) was able defeat Kentucky Wesleyan (1-1, 0-1) in a bit of redemption after the Panthers derailed the Chargers’ hopes last year in the conference tournament quarterfinals as a No. 8 over No. 1 upset. Coming into the week, Hillsdale was receiving votes (6) in the most recent NABC Top-25 Poll. 
 
Hillsdale shot 60 percent from the floor in the second half to overcome a KWC halftime lead. The Panthers were led by 16 points from Tre Cobbs off the bench. It was Kentucky Wesleyan’s first game since Nov. 24 and its Great Midwest opener.
 
The Chargers also crossed the century mark in scoring earlier in the week with a road win at Ohio Valley (1-4, 1-4). Five different players had double-digit scoring totals for Hillsdale as John Tharp’s program shot almost 63 percent from the field.
 
TNU (1-4, 1-2) carved out its first league win on the road at OVU on Saturday. Chris Rogers had a game-high 21 points as he and Austin Wills combined for nine three-pointers. The Trojans faced nationally ranked Findlay for the second time in the year on Thursday.
 
The No. 15-ranked Oilers (4-0, 3-0) were led by Tommy Schmock as he missed just one of his six tries from deep and added eight assists and five rebounds.
 
TNU faced Lipscomb on Tuesday and Malone played against Akron on Saturday. Both programs acquitted themselves well vs. competition a level above.
 
Walsh and Cedarville was postponed and a number of Great Midwest programs are still waiting to make their season debuts due to COVID-19 protocol.
 
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week
Patrick Cartier
Hillsdale
Sophomore
Forward
Brookfield, WI (East HS)
 
Cartier absolutely sizzled in a two-game sample size for undefeated Hillsdale as the Chargers earned conference wins against Ohio Valley and Kentucky Wesleyan. The Chargers are the nation’s No. 1 ranked offense in Division II through games of Dec. 17 according to the NCAA averaging 100.5 points per game.
 
The reigning Conference Freshman of the Year and first team all-league selection was a combined 18-of-21 from the field (85.7%) on all shots as he averaged 21.5 points and 8 rebounds per game.
 
Cartier had a double-double against Kentucky Wesleyan with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. He posted 20 points and five rebounds against OVU, a 40-point margin of victory for the Chargers.
 
Cartier was 11-of-12 on his field goal attempts vs. KWC and a near-perfect 7-of-9 against the Fighting Scots. He also averaged 1.5 assists and sank seven free throws.
 
The sophomore forward is the league leader in field goal percentage at over 80 percent and would be the presumed Division II national leader in the category if games were updated from the previous weekend in the NCAA portal.
 
Carter shot 64.7% from the field as a freshman, the third-highest mark for a season in conference history.
 
This represents his third conference career player of the week honor.