M-Basketball: #1 Rock Valley College stays undefeated, knocks off conference foe Harper College on the road
Box Score The Rock Valley College men's basketball team took control of the game early and left Harper College with a 97-78 win over the Hawks.
The Golden Eagles, who have been ranked #1 in the country for the last 17 national polls dating back to 10-27-2014, built a 14 point halftime lead and a 25 point second half lead en route to the 19 point victory.
Rock Valley moves to 17-0 (1-0) on the season while Harper falls to 9-8 (0-1) on the year.
(Head Coach
Craig Doty,
Dalton Menke,
Elijah Williams,
Dalton Payton - RVC Athletics)
Dalton Menke led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 19 points on 7-11 from the field (4-8 3PT).
Elijah Williams posted a double-double with 17 points (8-10 FG) and 10 rebounds while
Dalton Payton was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field (3-3 3PT) scoring 16 points.
Alec Pena, who earned his second start of the season, chipped in with 10 points. Menke and
LT Davis had 6 assists each as the Golden Eagles had a season-high 29 assists on the evening. RVC also shot 56.9% from the field as a team which is their second most efficient performance on the year. Rock Valley hit 14 of their 28 3PT attempts for 50%.
"I am happy with how we attacked Harper's zone defense," head coach
Craig Doty said. "Our open perimeter shots were as a result of getting the ball to the high and low post and attacking off dribble penetration. When we get the ball into the paint, good things happen for us offensively. We have a very unselfish team and guys who love playing with each other. They are a great group of young men to coach."
RVC's bench outscored Harper's bench by 38 points. Harper was led by Marcus Gatlin and Allias Burnett who scored 24 points each.
Rock Valley is back in action on Saturday playing against #7 ranked nationally Milwaukee Area Technical College. Milwaukee boasts a 14-2 record. The men will play the backend of the double-header with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 PM at Alverno College. The women's game will tip-off at noon.
