Harper puts the hurt on MATC

Wednesday night at the Sports and Wellness Center on the campus of Harper College in Palatine, the short-handed Hawks men’s basketball team was forced to add to an already long list of injuries.

Guard Simeon Handy did not dress because of an ankle injury. And the news wasn’t good for sophomore Brian Battaglia (Elk Grove), who suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder in the opening minutes of the conference opener against Joliet Junior College last month; Battaglia will miss the remainder of the season.

Good news? Sure, there was plenty of that, too, for the Hawks.

Harper scored a 76-52 win over region-leading Milwaukee Area Technical College (18-7, 6-3) in North Central Community College Conference play.

“I thought we played probably our best all-around game,” said Harper coach Tony Amarino. “This is a good win — this is a very good team that we beat.”

The Stormers have the top spot in the region because Triton College will play in the NJCAA Division II postseason.

“We did not play up to our potential,” said MATC guard Nate Johnson (Willowbrook).

With under nine minutes remaniing in the first half, Harper freshman Connor Miklasz (Hersey) sparked a 17-0 run that saw three different Hawks connect from 3-point range.

“Everyone was shooting well tonight,” said Miklasz.

Including Miklasz, who finished with 13 points.

“That has been our m.o. as of late,” said Stormers coach Randy Casey of his team’s propensity to give up early points.

Shonnon Barfield led the way for Harper (8-13, 2-7). The sophomore guard accumulated a team-high 30 points on 61 percent shooting.

The Hawks shot 54.5 percent from 3-point range in the first half.

“(Harper) came out aggressive and wanted it,” said Casey. “We didn’t show any effort, like we wanted it.”

One positive for Stormers was the play of Johnson off the bench. The 6-1 guard paced MATC with 14 points.

With 12:39 left, a refocused MATC team cut the deficit to 8 after a Johnson field goal.

“Good teams make runs,” Amarino said of the Stormers’ surge.

“We panicked a little bit,” Barfield said. “Anybody can beat anybody on any given night in this conference.”

The Hawks proved that, pulling away over the game’s final 10 minutes.

With the N4C title out of reach, Barfield and Co. are taking a look at making a difference in the postseason and a potential Elite Eight national appearance.

“We can’t win the conference,” Barfield said. “We are forcused on getting to New York.”