Harper men handle Rock Valley

Playing its third game in a seven-day span, the Harper College men’s basktball team held on for a 83-64 win over conference foe Rock Valley College on Wednesday night at the Sports and Wellness Center in Palatine.

Despite the score, Harper coach Tony Amarino was very complimentary of the hard-nosed Golden Eagles squad his team defeated in North Central Community College Conference play.

“It was two good teams who can scrap,” he said.

In the game’s opening minutes Brandon Schwebke sparked the visitors as the 6-foot-4 freshman scored 6 of the Golden Eagles’ first 11 points, helping Rock Valley (13-11, 4-5) grab an 11-8 lead. RVC’s leading scorer this season finished with 15 points, including 2 3s.

“Top to bottom in this conference, anybody can beat anyone on a given night,” said RVC first-year coach Craig Doty.

Then the Hawks’ offense started to come to life, thanks largely to the play of Michael Rose and Charles Wright (12 points). Tyler Gaedele and sopohmore Connor Miklasz also provided a spark for Harper (10-14, 7-6).

Rose was at his most effective in the first half, scoring 8 points in the first 20 minutes.

“I had a little more energy (in the first hal),” Rose said.

Along with his 17 points, Rose’s athleticsim led to 10 rebounds. All of which led to a surplus of possessions, and Harper made good use of them.

“We did a good job of finding the open guy,” Gaedele said.

Miklasz, especially, who had 11 assists and also managed to score 14 points.

“I’m always trying to be aggressive,” said Miklasz. “Our game is drive and kick. We like to shoot a lot of threes.”

Of the team’s 32 made field goals, 8 came from 3-point range. Garrett Gatz and Gaedele led the way with 3 3s apiece.

“We are hard to defend because we shoot the ball very well,” Amarino said.

Ÿ The Hawks women suffered an 84-29 loss to No. 1-ranked Rock Valley. Freshman Rachel Payne led Harper with 12 points, and Monica Hinderer had 7.