Men’s Basketball: Joliet Junior College tops Harper College
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com January 9, 2013 10:58PM
Joliet Junior College's Ben Daniel (1) drives to the basket as Harper College's Connor Miklasz (42) defends. | Larry Kane~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 11, 2013 7:29AM
Joliet Junior College sophomore guard Antwan Hill said there are two pieces to the puzzle when it comes to taking advantage of a superior inside game.
The perimeter players need to handle the ball and make good entry passes, and the inside players must get in position to make those passes possible.
“I talked to the big guys at halftime, that they had to get better position,” Hill (Romeoville) said after he scored 11 points and dished out a handful of assists in the Wolves’ 78-69 victory Wednesday night over Harper in the North Central Community College Conference opener at Wills Gymnasium. “When the big guys get their position, that takes the pressure off us on the perimeter. We don’t have to dribble the ball around so much.”
The Wolves (9-8, 1-0) suffered through a 14-turnover first half, which ended with Harper (7-9, 0-1) leading 34-31.
“Sometimes sloppy play is a matter of good defense,” Wolves coach Joe Kuhn said. “They played good pressure ‘D’ against us, and with our scouting report, we did not give their shooters clean looks. Sometimes that’s what conference play is all about.”
Once team scoring leader Pierre Jolly, a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward, and 6-5 sophomore forward Edward Robinson took over inside, however, JJC moved ahead and never looked back.
Jolly scored 21 points, Richardson 16 and the duo combined for 21 in the second half, when the Wolves outrebounded the Hawks by a whopping 27-10. Khari Jones had 10 of his 12 boards in the second half. Jolly and Richardson each grabbed nine.
“The first half wasn’t so good, but I think we came out and played with more pride in the second half,” Hill said.
Sophomore guard Ben Daniel (Plainfield North) made six straight free throws down the stretch and scored nine points for the Wolves.
