DuPage men, Harper women claim victory
On a bitterly cold night in Palatine, two bitter North Central Community College Conference rivals hooked up at the Harper College Sports and Wellness Center on Tuesday as the Hawks hosted College of DuPage.
The visiting Chaparrals (10-6 overall, 1-0 N4C) came away with a 79-63 win. COD scored 10 of the first 12 points of the contest and never looked back.
"I thought our zone defense took away some of the things they wanted to do," said COD coach Don Klaas.
Klaas was not happy with the way center Kenneth Ogbuokiri (West Aurora) played at the outset, but in the second half, Ogbuokiri scored 8 points, 6 of which came on three straight possessions.
Preseason All-American Deon Thomas led the way for the Chaparrals with 12 points.
"We came out with alot of aggressiveness" said COD guard Wesley Love, who scored 10 points.
The same could not be said for the Hawks.
"DuPage played well, but they just outworked us," said Harper coach Tony Amarino.
After struggling from the field in the first half (2 points), Harper sophomore guard Brandon Bolger shot better, ending the contest with a team-best 15 points.
The Chaparrals host the Benedictine JV on Thursday. Harper travels to No. 4-ranked Joliet Junior College on Saturday for its first conference road game of the season.
• It was the conference opener for both Harper and Dupage at the Sports and Wellness Center in women's basketball Tuesday night, and the Hawks came away with a 57-37 win to improve to 10-5 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Preseason All-American Peggie Parhas (Lake Zurich) scored a team-high 20 points. Noreen Davis (Conant) added 16 points while going 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point line, and Anna Zirchoff (Barrington) had 16 points and a team-best 8 rebounds.