Sean Roth was featured on Hampshire’s flashy game night program, which included a Q and A.

His favorite sports icon?

Michael Jordan.

Mind you, Roth, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, was born in 2008, five years after the greatest Bulls player retired from the NBA.

“My mom [Mary Beth], she loves Jordan,” Roth said. “She was born in the ’60s, so she knows the Bad Boys, the Pistons. I know about all that [rivalry with the Bulls]. She taught me.”

Wednesday night, Hampshire’s No. 23, Roth, did what the Bulls’ old No. 23 did often: He scored a lot of points and helped his team win a basketball game.

Roth had a team-high 17 points in the Whip-Purs’ 61-46 victory over visiting Marian Central in a nonconference game.

It was the fourth win in five games for Hampshire (7-15), which opened the season with eight straight losses and had only one win in its first 11 games.

“We’re trying to put some stuff together,” Whips coach Mike Featherly said. “It’s nice to see the offense flowing a little bit better. That was one problem we had at the beginning of the season. We were doing too much dribbling, instead of moving the ball and cutting hard. We’re seeing progress.”

Colin Hernon led Marian (4-21) with game highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-4 sophomore forward attacked the basket all night, scoring 10 points in the opening quarter in helping the Hurricanes go into the second trailing only 17-15.

“At the start of the year, I was a little timid, and then I got comfortable,“ said Hernon, who had a season-high 22 points against Chicago Christian on Jan. 13 and scored 20 against McHenry four days later. ”I’ve started attacking more and more throughout the season."

Hernon got to the free-throw line a hefty 18 times. And while he made only eight of his foul shots, Marian coach Lafeyette Bell is excited about his young player’s future.

“He’s going to be a monster,” Bell said. “But he’s a pup. He’s learning. The game’s fast. It’s starting to slow down for him, which is good. He’s really made strides in the right direction for us. He’s strong around the basket, rebounds well and is very coachable kid. His future’s bright.”

Like Hernon, Roth got his points by being aggressive. He shot 7 of 8 from the floor and 3 of 3 from the foul line. Roth also had four rebounds, including two on the offensive glass.

“I was glad to see him attacking, especially from the wing,” Featherly said. “Stuff we talked about, he implemented, which was good to see. Sometimes the shot’s not there, so you got to attack.”

Roth opened the scoring by making a cut to the basket and finishing an uncontested layup, and he sank a reverse layup later in the first quarter. He scored on a layup in transition in the second quarter, and his three-point play after a baseline move hiked the Whips’ lead to 39-24 with 3:11 left in the third.

His three field goals in the fourth quarter included a runner that iced the game.

“Coach instilled more confidence in me to attack and press these guys, and I did, and it worked,” said Roth, who scored a season-high 20 points against Buffalo Grove on Dec. 15. “I really couldn’t have done it without my coach, my teammates. They helped me move around without the ball.”

While Roth was Hampshire’s only player in double figures, Trey Simmons added nine points. Cole Harkin (three steals) and Tyler Johnson each had seven.

Connor Brandt had 11 points coming off the bench for Marian, which lost its 10th game in a row.

“We just got to keep working at practice every day,” Hernon said. “We got to get one percent better every day, keep working, keep putting in the hours.”

An angry Bell raised the volume of his voice as he addressed his team at the end of the third quarter.

“We know we can compete with these big schools,” said Bell, whose Hurricanes trailed 43-28 after three. “That’s why I schedule them. We just got to defend. When we give up 60 to 70 points, it’s hard to win basketball games. I just really emphasized defense [after the third quarter], and I think they responded at the end of the fourth, but at that point, we dug ourselves too big of a hole.”