Triton overtakes Harper in second half

Looking at Harper and Triton’s overall and conference records and contrasting of both squads’ starting front lines — Triton’s averaged 6-foot-7 to Hawks’ 6-3 — and you might figure a one-side game was in the offing.

Add to that the fact the Trojans won 84-71 in River Grove back on Jan. 11.

Yet on Saturday at the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine, the Hawks stayed right in the game until the Trojans used a 16-4 surge to clip Harper 73-52 in North Central Community College Conference play.

The story of the first half was the Hawks’ ability to bounce back after a pair of Trojan runs. The first, an 8-2 spurt that made it 24-13 with 8:51 left in the half, saw Harper claw back inside of single-digits on a Shonnon Barfield free throw and a 14-footer by Jordan Mack (11 points) that made it 24-16 at the 7:34 mark.

Harper’s second comeback run of the half came after a 10-0 Triton run highlighted by 6 of Darian White’s 17 first-half points that gave the N4C front-runners a 34-18 advantage with 2:48 to go. After a free throw by Mack and a stuff from the 6-5 third-year sophomore from St. Joseph that came in between 3-pointers from Barfield and Horace Grant, Jr., the Hawks were within 34-25 at the half.

But the sixth-ranked team in the NJCAA Division II poll (21-3, 8-0) lived up to its ranking with a second-half opening 16-4 run in which a duo of 6-5 reserves did the damage. Darius Golston scored 6 of his 13 points during it and Justin Newell’s layup at the 12:42 mark made it 50-29.

Four technical fouls were assessed to Triton in the second half, which led to ejections for white and sophomore guard Bryant Orange.

White led Triton with 19 points, followed by Newell with 14. The Hawks (7-17, 1-7) were by Barfield’s game-high 20 points and Grant’s 16.