Harper topples Elgin in OT
Forty minutes were not enough for the men's basketball teams from Elgin Community College and Harper College at the Spartan Events Center in Elgin Wednesday.
ECC held a 35-19 halftime lead, but Harper fought back to send the game to overtime and outscored the Spartans 12-8 in the extra period to secure a 77-74 victory.
"We just stuck with it and never gave up," said Hawks freshman Floyd Battle, who finished with 18 points. "We had a nice talk at halftime."
ECC (0-3) turned the ball over once a minute for the first 10 minutes of the second half but still held a 55-44 lead after sophomore Brett Manning drained a 3-pointer with 10:07 left. Then Harper (2-0) erupted for 11 straight points over the next 3:56 to knot the score at 55, a run capped by back-to-back steals for layups by Battle and Fremd graduate Kevin Steele (5 points).
"We just let up. We lost our focus," ECC center D'Angelo Stewart said. "In the first half we only had a few turnovers. But every team has their runs and they had a good run."
ECC took its last lead with 49 seconds to go in the second half when D'Angelo Stewart blocked a Brandon Bolger shot and Andrew Smith scored on the ensuing breakaway. But Harper's Paul Sanders drained a jumper with 42 seconds left to tie it. Both teams had shots to win in the final 20 seconds but extra time proved necessary.
ECC quickly fell behind by 5 points in overtime, but the Spartans tied the game at 73 on 2 free throws by Johnny Paden (13 points) with 43 seconds remaining. Hawks sophomore Tracy Winston answered by driving the length of the court through pressure to give Harper a 2-point lead with 35 seconds left. Sanders then made a steal and split 2 free throws after he was fouled.
ECC had a chance to tie, but Paden's 3-point attempt with 9 seconds to play skimmed off the front rim to Harper's Isiah Holcombe. He split 2 free throws with 5.5 seconds on the clock to seal the outcome.
"There's disappointment right now, and it's not in the effort," ECC coach Reed Nosbisch said. "Things didn't go our way our way tonight... I don't think it was anything special they did. I don't think it was anything we didn't do. It's just what happened tonight. All I can say about it was the effort was there."
Harper forced the Spartans into 16 second-half turnovers after ECC made only 6 in the first half.
"We came back like champs," Harper coach Anthony Amarino said. " It's disappointing we came out like we did in the first big road game, but I have to give them credit for coming back and playing hard in the second half."
Harper's Winston led all scorers with 19 points, Bolger had 12 and Holcombe finished with 10 points.
ECC sophomore Dave Bernard scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Stewart finished with 9 points and 4 boards.