MADISON, WISC. - The Madison College men's basketball team appears to be finding it's stride at the right time as they stretched their season-high win streak to five games Tuesday night with a 79-61 win inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium over visiting Harper College. Sophomore Keith Hoffman poured in 26 points and the WolfPack used a monster 18-4 burst to gain a stranglehold on the game as it hit halftime. The Pack, who are receiving votes in the latest NJCAA Division III Poll, now owns an eight-game win streak against the Hawks, as well as a 19-10 all-time lead. They will complete their regular season series in Illinois on February 16.

Madison College played from in front for a majority of the game's opening minutes. Harper College (3-21, 0-7) sank a three-pointer just over five minutes into the game to take a 7-6 lead, however, sophomore Cortez Telfered answered with a three-point hit of his own to put the Pack on top for good. Still a one possession game following a Hawks layup that made it 20-17 with 6:24 left in the half, the WolfPack seized control with ten consecutive points that was part of a bigger surge in which the home team tallied 18 of the final 22 points going into halftime.



Despite a 17-point lead (38-21) at the break, the game was certainly not over, and Harper College engineered a ten-point run of their own to pull within nine at 47-38 with 13:10 to play. Hoffman came through with a huge answer, hitting back-to-back three-pointers as the Pack slowly began to pull away. The advantage swelled to 23 points after Madison College sank nine consecutive free throws as part of an 11-0 run to put the game away.

Hoffman, a Stevens Point, Wisconsin, product, hit four 3-pointers for the second time this season, shot 9 of 16 overall, and converted all four of his free throws en route to 26 points. The 6'8" forward/center has reached the 20-point plateau ten times this season and is now 17 points shy of 900 for his career. Hoffman also collected seven rebounds.

In all ten players scored for the WolfPack, with freshman Deante Luster being the only other one in double-figures with 11 points. He was 4 of 12 from the floor with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. The Columbia, South Carolina, native led Madison College with seven assists and grabbed five boards.

The WolfPack made 26 of 47 (55%) shots and were 6 of 19 (31%) beyond the arc, while also connecting on 21 of 26 (80%) free throws to give them four consecutive games outings shooting 80% or better at the charity stripe. Madison College held a 38-30 edge in points in the paint.

Up Next:

Madison College (14-10, 4-2) faces a challenging schedule to finish out the week, playing back-to-back games against teams ranked in the top ten in the NJCAA Division II Poll. The sequence begins Thursday, February 9 with an I-94 rivalry series game at #9 Milwaukee Area Technical College (22-3, 7-0). The Stormers earned a 108-65 win in Madison on January 24 for their seventh straight head-to-head win, however, the all-time series still belongs to the WolfPack with a 64-55 count. The game will be played at Alverno College's Reiman Gymnasium with tip off at 8:00 p.m., and can be live streamed here.

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