Holcombe, Harper edge Lake County

The Harper College men's basketball program welcomed a familiar face back to the Sports and Wellness Center on Thursday, as former Harper coach Mike Hirsch brought his College of Lake County Lancers to Palatine.

The Hawks (7-7) came away with an 87-84 victory.

Harper got out to an early lead thanks to the guard play of Brandon Bolger (Schaumburg) and Tracy Winston and steady contributions from forward Isiah Holcombe (Hoffman Estates). Holcombe finished with 14 points.

"Coach (Tony Amarino) told me that (mid-range) jump shot was mine," Holcombe said. "Once I saw the opportunity, I took it and it just fell."

The Lancers (4-8) used two 6-point runs to take a 45-43 lead after the first half. Sophomore guard Wardell Satterwhite had 9 points at the half for Lancers and finished with 24 points.

"We need to pick it up on defense a little more," said Satterwhite, who hinted that Harper guard Floyd Battle (14 points) gave the Lancers trouble on offense. "We need to execute more (on offense)."

Andy Rochon (Mundelein) scored a game-high 25 points for College of Lake County.

But it was the consistency of Holcombe (2 steals, 2 rebounds) that ended up making the difference.

"With Avery Roche (9 rebounds, 2 blocked shots) in the post, I felt comfortable" said Holcombe.

Harper scored 6 of the final 10 points. Of Harper's final 6 points, 4 came at the free throw line, where the Hawks made 4 of their last 6 attempts.

The Hawks play South Suburban at the Sports and Wellness Center on Saturday. while College of Lake County plays Danville College at home Saturday.

• The Harper women's team (9-5) avenged a previous loss to Waubonsee by prevailing 77-54 on Thursday. Freshman Anna Kirchoff (Barrington) scored 33 points for Harper, and Peggie Parhas scored 25. Kirchoff also had 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal, and Nina Montero had 10 rebounds for Harper.