PALATINE, IL-  The Harper College men's basketball team hosted the Judson University Eagles on Monday night.  The Hawks battled the Eagles to a 72-67 victory for their first win of the season.

Judson got the scoring started early before Harper answered back for a quick 4-2 lead.  The Eagles tied the game again but then the Hawks once again came back and built a 10-4 lead with 16 minutes to go in the first half, capped off by a Marin Bandalo () layup.  A Brendon Thompson (/Hoffman Estates) block led to a fastbreak layup by Adrian Punzalan () to give the Hawks their biggest lead of the half at 14-7 with just over 14 minutes remaining.  Harper held the lead until the Eagles went on a 13-6 run in 7 minutes to tie the score at 20.  The Hawks went on an 8-2 run to answer back to a 28-22 lead before Judson took off.  In the next minute and a half, Judson went on a 9-1 run to take their first lead since the first 30 seconds of the half.  Punzalan's jumper with 1:28 to go tied the score again before two Sean Richardson () free throws gave the Hawks a 35-33 lead at halftime.

As they did in the first half, Judson started the scoring to give them a 1 point lead a minute into the half.  The two teams traded baskets and leads until 16:50 to go when Punzalan took a pass from Sean Dell (/Palatine) and hit a three-pointer to give the Hawks a 40-38 lead.  That lead was short lived, however, as Judson went on a 6-0 run in 3 minutes to go up 46-40.  In a game of runs, the Hawks then went on a 13-0 run until the midpoint of the second half capped by another Punzalan three and a Cornelius Paxton (/Willowbrook) free throw.  An and-one by Marshall Davis (/Hoffman Estates) and two more free throws from Punzalan gave the Hawks a 10 point lead with just under 9 minutes to go.  The Eagles would trim that lead to 4 before the Hawks built up their largest lead of the game on a Brendon Thompson (/Hoffman Estates) layup after Paxton thread the needle.  The Hawks held on the remainder of the way for a 72-67 lead.

Adrian Punzalan () led all scorers with 29 points, shooting 10-23 from the floor.  In his first college start, Sean Dell (/Palatine) notched a double-double, totaling 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.  Cornelius Paxton (/Willowbrook) and Sean Richardson () co-led the team with 4 assists each while Marin Bandalo () was a force down low with 5 blocks.

The win puts the Hawks in the win column for the first time this year, moving their record to 1-2 on the season.  Harper's next game will be Tuesday, November 6 at 7pm when they host the Elgin Community College Spartans.