WEST LIBERTY, WV – In a Sweet 16 showdown of two wildly-contrasting styles of play, the scales tipped to No. 3 seed West Liberty as the Hilltoppers defeated No. 1 Hillsdale in the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship game on Tuesday night, 78-61.
For the Great Midwest Athletic Conference-represented Chargers, it was a very memorable 2020-21 season with a 21-3 overall record. Hillsdale is the only conference program other than Findlay to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship bracket in men’s hoops.
No. 6 seed and Great Midwest tournament champion Malone actually gave the Chargers a little bit of a blueprint from their quarterfinal matchup on Saturday against the Hilltoppers of how to keep the game close. The Pioneers only lost by five as both teams threatened to score over 100 points just a few days ago.
From the opening tip, the Hilltoppers were relentless with full-court pressure and hounding the original passer on the inbounds play. Hillsdale played with pace and patience in order to break the press and West Liberty made it clear the desired pace was a back-and-forth track meet.
West Liberty was unable to stop Great Midwest Player of the Year and All-American candidate Patrick Cartier down low early, but switched defensively to athletic reserve Marlon Moore Jr., who was able to get a couple of stops on back-to-back possessions.
The Chargers trailed by double-digits, 21-11, midway through the first half, but came back on six quick points from senior forward Austen Yarian, including a deep three and a converted three-point play in transition.
Senior forward Davis Larson then made it a one-possession game on the drive and Hillsdale was able to slow the pace down while remaining in striking distance. With under eight minutes left in the half, the Chargers switched to a zone defense.
Larson drilled a three following a 30-second timeout to cut it to 31-28. Guard Kyle Goesseler drilled another triple under the three-minute mark and put the Chargers within two at 33-31. The Hilltoppers would go on a 7-2 run to end the half and went into the locker room down 39-33.
Into the second half, Dalton Bolon hit back-to-back threes and a layup by Bryce Butler established another double-digit lead for West Liberty. The Hilltoppers had their largest lead of the night up 19 with 13:14 left.
The Chargers closed the deficit to 10 with 2:03 left on a left-handed hook shot by Yarian, but were unable to trim it further down the stretch.
Senior guard Connor Hill led Hillsdale with 15 points while Larson had 12. Cartier would finish with 10 and Yarian chipped in 14. Yarian, Cartier and Tavon Brown, each had eight rebounds as the Chargers shot north of 43 percent in the game.