Box Score PALATINE, IL-  The Harper College men's basketball team opened the conference season on Wednesday by playing host to the Wilbur Wright Rams but fell by a score of 104-61.

The Hawks got the scoring started as Christian Rettig gave Harper an early lead with a jumper in the first minute.  Joe Gatziolis followed up with two layups of his own and Rettig added another to put the Hawks up 8-5 with 17:39 to play in the first.  However, the Rams would go on a 13-2 run over the next 4 minutes to go up 20-10.  Two jumpers by Jesse Young and a layup by Corin Daniel with 11 minutes to go in the first half would prove to be the last time the Hawks were able to keep the Ram's lead to single digits for the remainder of the game.  After falling behind by as much as 15 points, the Hawks did go on a mini run fueled by Michael Petrella and Young to bring the Hawks back within 10 with 5 minutes to play in the half.  Both teams more or less traded baskets the rest of the way and the Hawks went into the half trailing 44-30.

Young started the scoring in the second half but the Hawks would only score one point for the next 8 minutes.  During that time, Wright was able to build their lead to 34 at 67-33.  The Rams would not let up and saw their biggest lead of the game (47 points) with 4 minutes to go.  As the final buzzer sounded, the Hawks fell by a score of 104-61.

The Hawks shot a respectable 48% from the field, but went 1-10 from three and 12-23 from the free throw line.  The Rams shot an astounding 64% for the game, including 10-18 from deep.  Despite finishing with 12 turnovers, the Hawks were not able to get into a rhythm as evidenced by them taking only 50 shots for the game.

The Hawks (2-12, 0-1 N4C) will travel to Rockford on Saturday to take on the Rock Valley College Golden Eagles.  Tip-off is scheduled for 3pm.