CHICAGO – Buoyed by a career-high 34 points from point guard Tyree York and the return of veteran leaders Jeremiah Jackson and Joe Harks from injury-induced absences, the Roosevelt men's basketball team soared to an 82-61 victory at the Lillian and Larry Goodman Center on Saturday.
The win moved the Lakers to 14-13 overall and 6-11 in the CCAC while snapping a three-game skid.
Elliott Vaughn added 15 points, Korey Ryan tallied nine points and pulled down a career-high nine rebounds, and Harks scored seven off the bench to reach the 1,000-career-point benchmark and become the first player in modern Roosevelt history to achieve the feat.
Andrew Eck led the Eagles 96-22, 3-14 CCAC) with 17 points.
The Lakers had a field day from the floor, shooting just over 61 percent (27-for-44) for the game and bettering a 58-percent first-half showing with a fantastic 65-percent display after intermission.
Roosevelt also returned to its trademark defense, holding Judson to just nine made baskets in 32 first-half attempts to force the Eagles into 34 percent shooting for the game.
York's performance was majestic from start to finish. The junior floor general missed just two of his 12 shots from the field and connected on 13 of 16 from the charity stripe to finish with a career-best output, turn in the highest scoring outing for a Roosevelt player this season and tie Paul Tometich's single-game Roosevelt points record.
Jackson, the Lakers' leading rebounder (8.7 rpg) who missed a month with a lower body injury, was solid with six points and six rebounds in 21 minutes of the bench.
Harks missed just one game after suffering a head injury last Saturday and came off the bench against the Eagles. The junior, who currently paces the Lakers with a team-leading 14.8 ppg, achieved the 1,000-point feat with a three in the first half to become the first Laker to tally 1,000 points in a career since the program's revival in 2010.
"I was really proud of the way we shared and moved the ball tonight," said Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin. "It was great having our guys back and being as close as we are going to be to full strength. We did a great job knocking down free throws, and holding them to 34 percent shooting is getting us back to the way we were defending earlier in the year.
"Hopefully we can keep the momentum going."
Griffin also talked about the importance of Hark's accomplishment.
"We are really proud of Joey and what he has done for our program in his third year and scoring his 1,000th point," Griffin said. "He's been a consistent, hard-nosed player for us who is still getting better."
Roosevelt heads to Saint Xavier to face the fifth-ranked Cougars on Bob Hallberg Court at the Shannon Center this Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
Joe Harks tallied his 1,000th career point against Judson, becoming the first Roosevelt player since the return of the program in 2010 to achieve the feat.
