PALATINE, ILL. - The final regular season road test for the Madison College men's basketball was just that Saturday, a test that the WolfPack survived with a 78-74 win over Harper College. The 'Pack finished a difficult four-game road trip with winning record, taking the last three games to finish with a 7-6 mark in true road contests.

The game's first six minutes saw Madison College (17-9, 9-3) and the Hawks traded the lead eight times before Harper College (7-21, 2-10) pulled ahead by seven with four minutes and 31 seconds left in the half. The WolfPack responded with a 12-5 push to close first 20 minutes of action in a 33-33 tie.

An 8-0 run four minutes into the second half earned the 'Pack it's largest lead so far at 50-41, which then grew to a 12-point margin on two separate occasions, the latest coming with 8:51 to play. The Hawks slowly cut into the WolfPack lead, eventually tying the game with a pair of free throws in the final minute. Madison College didn't quit, and when Stavon Staples rebounded his own miss, the ball found it's way into Shane Waldon's hand for what proved to be the game-winning basket with 24 seconds remaining. Harper had one last possession to play for the tie or the win, but a foul on the Hawks with two seconds left put Paul Schmelzer III on the line for two free throws to ice the game. The freshman made the both.

Sophomore Shane Waldon narrowly missed his sixth double-double, going for 18 points and nine rebounds. The transfer from UW-Whitewater was 7-for-15 shooting and hit 4-of-6 free throws en route to his 14th consecutive game with ten or more points. Paul Schmelzer III made two of Madison College's three 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, his highest point total in five games. Deshawn Black came off the bench to contribute 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting and a perfect 7-for-7 at the charity stripe, to go along with seven rebounds. And Tyree Young tallied 14 points, using a career-best 10-for-12 effort from the free throw line. Young and Black both had four steals to lead the WolfPack defensively. Sophomore forward Joel O'Donnell collected a team-best 11 rebounds, his first double-digit rebounding game since November 15.

The 'Pack shot 41-percent (23-56) to snap a streak of back-to-back games making at least half its shots, but made up for it with season-highs of 27 made free throws on 34 attempts to earn a season sweep of the Hawks for the first time in two years. The win was also the fifth in the last six games against Harper.

Madison College will conclude the regular season schedule with a pair of home games, starting Wednesday against the College of DuPage (4-20, 4-8). The WolfPack downed the Chaparrals 70-51 in Illinois last month and have won two of the last three meetings, however, they trail the all-time series by a 10-8 margin. Tip off at H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium is at 3:00 p.m.

The night will include the WolfPack men's and women's teams honoring their most impactful faculty members and wearing pink for women's cancer awareness as part of the Play4Kay campaign. Anyone who wears pink to either game will receive free admission.

The game will be broadcast live on MadisonCollege.TV and via the Madison College Athletics Facebook page.

Follow WolfPack men's basketball: Facebook | Twitter