Borgrud, Madison hand Harper a setback

With the the fourth seed in next week’s NJCAA Region IV men’s basketball tournament up for grabs, Madison College paid the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine a visit.

For host Harper to capture the fourth seed and thus a home game in the first round of postseason play, the Hawks first needed to win Wednesday, then defeat rival College of DuPage on Saturday in Glen Ellyn.

The Wolfpack rendered the second part of that plan less important by netting a 98-85 victory over Harper.

“We knew that if we won this one, we would get a home game (in the region tournament),” said Madison’s Garrett Borgrud.

The Hawks’ defensive priority was to stop Madison’s leading scoreer, Tyler Kowalski.

“We kind of controlled him,” said Hawks coach Tony Amarino. Kowalski finished with 12 points.

So far, so good — but Amarino was not happy with his team’s overall defense.

The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Borgrud carried Madison on his broad shoulders, finishing with 42 points.

“We had no answer for (Borgrud),” Amarino said. “That’s the most points we’ve given up to one player as long as I’ve been coaching.

“They had a guy who was scoring, and they kept going to him. That’s smart basketball.”

Harper’s Horace Grant Jr. scored with 9:49 remaining to tie the game at 21-21, and a free throw from Jordan Mack (19 points) gave Harper the lead briefly at 30-29.

But Madison answered with a 15-0 run to reclaim command.

The play of the second unit helped keep the Hawks in the contest. Louis Erkins scored 14 points off the bench.

“We knew this was a must-win game,” Erkins said.

Harper stayed close and drew within 7 points with 3:36 left. Freshman Connor Miklasz (Hersey) was a big reason behind the Hawks’ resiliency; he finished with a team-high 32 points, including 8-for-10 from 3-point range, with 10 assists.

“Connor was outstanding tonight,” Amarino said of his fresman point guard.

“I was just trying to do what I could to help the team win the game,” Miklasz said.