LMC men sneak past the Vikings
Glen Oaks led by Moore's 20-point effort.
In its first "home" game of the season Saturday at Camden Hall at Firm Foundation Ministries, the Glen Oaks Community College men's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 92-89 loss to Lake Michigan College.
After playing on the road all year due to athletic renovations on campus, the Vikings made their debut at their temporary home just down the road. And a win was within grasp until late turnovers cost GOCC dearly. With 3:23 remaining, LMC pulled ahead 84-83 with a pair of free throws. Darius Styles answered 30 seconds later with a 3-pointer — one of six he made for the game — to put Glen Oaks back out front.
Lake Michigan cut it to one at the foul line before Styles struck again from deep to give the Vikings an 89-85 lead with 2:04 to play. Following a defensive stop, GOCC turned it over against the press and LMC turned it into points via the stripe to get within two. Lake Michigan came up with another steal and scored on a putback to tie the game with 1:18 remaining.
Lake Michigan got a jumpball on the defensive end and ate up nearly the entire shot clock before draining a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to play. Akin Smith managed to get a contested 3-point attempt off just before the horn but it didn't fall.
Amauri Moore led the Vikings with 20 points, followed by Styles (18), Smith (16), Joriem Lomax (13) and Kelvion Brown (11). Marlon Gaitan and Keri Foster both hit treys, Jaiden Stamps also finished with 3 points and Jordan Pisco had 2.
Glen Oaks was 7-for-10 from the foul line and LMC went 16-for-24. Full individual statistics were not available at the time of publication.
The Vikings dropped to 8-8 overall and 0-2 in the MCCAA Western Conference. They head to Ancilla College Monday for a makeup game from Jan. 14.
