2021-22 All-G-MAC Men's Basketball Teams
The Hillsdale College men's basketball team had another successful regular season in 2021-22, winning 20 games for the second year in a row and finishing in the top three in the G-MAC title race for the fifth straight season.
Great teams often are buoyed by superlative individual efforts, and this year's Charger squad is no exception.
Players from Hillsdale claimed two of the G-MAC's three major individual season-ending awards, and the Chargers also had two players named to the 2021-22 All-G-MAC teams, announced by the league on Thursday afternoon.
Leading the way for the Chargers is junior forward Patrick Cartier, who became the first player in the decade-long history of the G-MAC to repeat as Player of the Year, while also earning first-team All-G-MAC honors for the third straight season.
There was little doubt the award would go to Cartier, after a season where he improved in almost every category over his 2020-21 campaign that saw him win the same award and earn consensus All-American honors.
The Brookfield, Wisconsin native led the G-MAC in points per game with 22 and in field goal percentage by making 65 percent of his shots from the floor. He's also nationally ranked in both categories, with the 12th-highest scoring average in NCAA DII, and ranking seventh in the nation in field goal percentage.
Cartier also is averaging more assists per game (2.5) and blocks per game (0.6) than in his previous campaign, with a better assist-to-turnover ratio than last season. He scored in double figures in all 26 of Hillsdale's games this season, including 18 20-plus point games and three 30-plus point games.
The junior already has earned honors for his play this season before today, winning a G-MAC best three conference Player of the Week awards, and also being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team for the second-consecutive year. He's also one of just 20 NCAA DII players to make the top 50 cut for the Bevo Francis Award, handed out annually to the best non-NCAA Division I men's basketball player in the country.
Cartier's 572 points in 2021-22 are the 10th most all-time in a single season in Hillsdale history, and his 223 made field goals are tied for seventh. For his career, Cartier has 1,515 points, good for 12th all time, and his 597 made field goals are eighth all-time. Cartier is also the career leader in field goal percentage at Hillsdale at 64.8 percent, nearly four full percentage points higher than second place.
Joining Cartier in receiving special recognition was Hillsdale freshman Joe Reuter, who becomes the second Charger in program history to receive the G-MAC Freshman of the Year award, after Cartier won it in 2019-20.
In a year in the G-MAC dominated by super seniors and familiar faces, Reuter stood out as a newcomer to college basketball who made an outsized impact on his team's success. After a slow start offensively while he adjusted to the speed of the game and carved out a role off the bench for the Chargers, Reuter exploded in a Jan. 8 win over Malone, scoring a game-high 21 points, the most by a true freshman at Hillsdale since 2006.
From there, Reuter was arguably the most impactful player off the bench in the G-MAC, scoring in double figures in 10 of Hillsdale's final 14 games, including two 20-point outings. For the season, Reuter averaged 7.4 points per game on 54% shooting from the floor and 41.4% from 3-point range. In those final 14 games, Reuter averaged 10.4 points, the third-most of any player on the Hillsdale roster.
A big wing with a strong two-way game, Reuter's role figures to continue to grow for the Chargers over the next couple of seasons.
While Reuter's Charger career is off to a promising start, Hillsdale's final G-MAC honoree is coming to the twilight of his career, and is earning more recognition for the job he's done in five stellar seasons at Hillsdale.
Fifth-year senior Austen Yarian received second-team All-G-MAC honors for the 2021-22 season, his third time receiving end-of-season conference honors. The senior forward is Hillsdale's most consistent secondary scoring option, averaging 10.3 points per game, and makes a critical impact everywhere on the court, as evidenced by his impressive statistics.
Yarian leads the Chargers in rebounds (7.5 per game), assists (3.9 per game) and is tied for the lead in blocks (0.7 per game), while also ranking in the top 10 in the G-MAC in all three categories.
Throughout his career, Yarian has proved adept at both taking over a game offensively, as he did with 25 points in a 58-57 road win over Cedarville on Dec. 11, 2021, or in stepping back and facilitating for others, as he did in his 10 games with five or more assists this season – whatever served his team best in the moment.
The Cleveland, Ohio native has built an impressive legacy at Hillsdale in five years as a contributor and three as a starter, dating back to his strong performance off the bench as a true freshman for the 2017-18 team that made the NCAA Tournament.
Yarian's 1,154 points rank 29th all-time in Hillsdale College history, and his 751 rebounds are the eighth most for a Charger in his career.
Cartier, Reuter and Yarian all are aiming to add some team hardware to their individual accomplishments, as Hillsdale travels to North Canton, Ohio this weekend for the G-MAC Tournament semifinals and finals. The Chargers open their quest on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Cedarville, looking to secure a spot in the final on Saturday at 2 p.m. against either Walsh or Findlay.