GOCC men fall at Southwestern

The race for a Michigan Community College Athletic Association Western Conference men's basketball championship got even more interesting Wednesday after host Southwestern Michigan College topped Glen Oaks, 76-70. 

With the victory, the Roadrunners improved to 12-8 overall and 3-2 in the conference. Glen Oaks has an identical record with the loss as both teams join Kellogg for a three-way tie for second place currently. Kalamazoo Valley is at the top at 5-0 and visits Glen Oaks Saturday for a pivotal 3 p.m. matchup. 

Southwestern Michigan started the game with a 5-0 run to start the game before Daivion Boleware hit a 3-pointer in transition off an assist from Tylan Harris at the 16:44 mark. An offensive rebound and putback by Lavonta Ash tied the game soon after. 

The Roadrunners started to build what would end up being a 34-28 halftime advantage with seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes of play. For Glen Oaks, Boleware scored 8 of his co-game-high 16 points in the first half. Ash led GOCC in the opening half with seven points. He'd finish the game with 11. 

Ash got things going in the right direction after the break as he fought for consecutive offensive rebounds, and slipped one back into the bucket. Tyler Swanwick followed with a 3-pointer to cut SMC's lead to a point. A basket and pair of free throws by Darrius Roach kept it a one-possession game with 15 minutes to go. 

Jordan Turner slashed his way to 12 of his 16 points in the second half for the Vikings. But Glen Oaks just couldn't find a way to completely close the gap. Southwestern went on a run close to the midway point of the second half and led 57-47. 

Glen Oaks answered, starting with a pair of Boleware made foul shots to eventually tie the game at 59-59. Turner forced a turnover which led to a Derek Anderson triple. Roach hit a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor, and, by the time Turner made a steal and bolted down the floor for a missed shot and putback with 8:45 remaining, the Vikings had just completed a 10-0 run to square the game. 

A Boleware offensive rebound and score under the hoop again tied the game at 59-59. Turner was fouled hard on a drive and gathered his composure to drain both free throws to tied things up at 61-61 with a little over seven minutes remaining. 

LMC's Davion Goins hit a big 3-pointer Prince Adams followed that up with a reverse layup as the Roadrunners pulled back ahead by five points. Turner's trip to the stripe resulted in two points to keep the Vikings within three points, and he'd hit a quick pullup jumper at the top of the key with 2:47 on the clock to get it back to a three-point deficit again. 

A spin move down the lane by Boleware made it a 68-67 game in favor of SMC 30 seconds later. The Roadrunners answered on the other end to push it back to three points. GOCC's Harris came back with a deep 3-ball to tie the game at 70-70 with 1:17 remaining. 

Southwestern scored quickly coming out of a timeout and came up with a critical defensive rebound on the other end. Boleware tipped the ball off an SMC player off an inbounds pass with 43 seconds to go, but Turner couldn't convert on a drive. 

The Roadrunners slowed things down with 30 seconds left as Glen Oaks still had two fouls to give before putting SMC on the line. After a series of intentional fouls, Southwestern made two free throws for a 74-70 lead. Another Turner drive came up empty and the Roadrunners closed things out with two more foul shots. 

Harris would end the night with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal, and Ash had six boards and a block. Boleware registered nine rebounds and two assists, Turner had six boards, two assists and a pair of steals, and Swanwick posted four rebounds, two assists and a steal. 

Anderson had two boards and two assists to go with three points, and Shane Handlon finished with six points and four defensive rebounds.