Harper soars past Judson JV

The Harper College men’s basketball team welcomed the Judson University JV team to the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine on Wednesday night.

In a battle of the birds, it was Harper’s Hawks (2-1) coming away with a 95-62 victory over the Eagles (0-3).

“We have to use a team game — right now we’re not doing that,” Judson forward Luke Labedzki said.

The Eagles started strong due to the shooting of Kimani Byars and Sam Lemmerman, who scored Judson’s first 6 points.

“(We) played right with them the first 15 minutes,” said Judson’s acting coach, Joel Cotton.

Harper got on track as 6-foot-4 redshirt sophomore forward Jordan Mack scored his first 4 points. And after a Byars bucket, the Hawks went on a 10-4 run started by a trio Elk Grove products — sophomores Chris Hicks and Brian Battaglia (4 points) and freshman John Lorenz.

Hicks helped pace the Hawks and finished with 22 points.

“If we execute our offense against anybody, we will get open shots,” Hicks said.

Lorenz had the best overall game of his young Harper career on his home floor, finishing with 11 points.

Bartlett alum Labedzki led the Eagles with 20 points, but was held to 4 points in the second half.

“He’s always been able to score the basketball,” Cotton said. “We need him to be able to score to be successful.”

With 6:02 remaining in the first half, the scored was tied 24-24. But the Hawks produced a 27-8 spurt to take command.

In the second half, Judson switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone due, in part due to a lack of depth on the bench.

Harper soph Garett Gatz took advantage of the new look, finishing with 15 points, including 4 3-point field goals .

“All shooters love zones,” he said.