Undefeated in their first two contests of the season, the Hilltoppers faced Eastlake North on Dec. 22. In an intense and dramatic OT thriller, Faber led the Hilltoppers to a come-from-behind victory over the Rangers, 67-63.
After helping Chardon win a state championship in baseball this past June, senior Ethan Faber is currently leading the Hilltoppers on the hardwood as well.
Undefeated in their first two contests of the season, the Hilltoppers faced Eastlake North on Dec. 22.
In an intense and dramatic OT thriller, Faber led the Hilltoppers to a come-from-behind victory over the Rangers, 67-63.
Using his excellent speed and quickness to his advantage, Faber scored 18 points, many of his baskets coming off quick penetrating drives against one of the area’s top post players, Sean Register.
Faber noted, in postgame comments, the importance of the Hilltoppers working together and having a balanced attack on offense.
“Obviously we got knocked down a lot,” he said. “We knew things were going to go wrong, but we knew we (would) come (back) up.
“We always say, you get knocked down, you come back up, you take something with you, you wear them down.”
Chardon Head Coach Chad Murawski also discussed the importance overcoming adversity in order to have success.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “Their record may not show it, (but) they got probably one of the best big men in the area, and we knew it was going to be a battle for four quarters.
“We needed a fifth quarter to pull it out, but they were able to make it happen.”
The first half of the game was very close, as North took a 34-33 lead into halftime.
However, as the third quarter began, North opened up a big lead.
It looked as though North might run away with the game. But Coach Murawski helped his team regroup.
“We were getting the shots we wanted, the looks we wanted — we just couldn’t hit anything,” Murawski said.
His message to his team was, “Keep playing really, really hard.”
The Hilltoppers listened to their coach’s advice and came storming back to end the third quarter down by only four points.
A main reason the Hilltoppers were able to battle through the third-quarter adversity was because of the defensive play of Kyle Palovich.
“Special shout out to Kyle (Palovich),” Murawski said. “You know, he is going against an unbelievable player in Sean Register, and Kyle battled and battled and battled, and for four and a half quarters he played as hard as you possibly could.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Kyle, and how hard he played, but his teammates around him also played really, really well.”
After the Hilltoppers comeback, the game was extremely close throughout the fourth quarter as North forced overtime on a successful three-pointer with less than a minute left in regulation.
The Hilltoppers, however, outscored the Rangers 9-5 in the overtime period to get the victory.
Leading the scoring for the Hilltoppers were Faber (18) and Trey Liebhardt (17). Liebhardt had three three-pointers and was 4-4 at the line.
In addition, Noah Gerlica (12 points with 2 three pointers), Sammy Sulka (7), Palovich (6), Ryan Grau (5 points, with a three pointer) and Caleb Hewitt (2) also contributed to the scoring for the Hilltoppers.
Sean Register led all scorers with a game-high 31 points.
The Hilltoppers are now 3-0 on the season with victories over North, Lakeside (90-66) and South (66-62). Faber is averaging 21.7 points per game. In addition to 18 against North, he also had 33 against Lakeside and 14 against South.
