Glen Oaks men complete epic comeback at Kellogg

BATTLE CREEK — Showing its grit on the road Thursday night, the Glen Oaks Community College men's basketball team rallied from a 22-point deficit against Kellogg early in the second half and eventually prevailed with an 87-84 victory. 

Trailing 55-33 with 17:51 remaining in the MCCAA Western Conference contest, the Vikings went on a 10-0 run to get back in the game. A jumper by Taurus Baugh, a pair of layups by Amauri Moore, a drive by Darrius Roach, who had a game-high 23 points, and and a lay-in by Baugh got GOCC cooking offensively. Kellogg stopped the bleeding temporarily with a 3-pointer by Mikial Miller and layup Ke'Marion Tucker to stay out front by 17. 

Glen Oaks answered with a Nathan Keil bucket, a triple from Mike Phillips and a jumper from Aaron Humphrey Jr. But it wasn't until Baugh, who ended the night with 11 points, banged in two free throws at the 12:34 mark that the Vikings were back within 10 points. Baugh stole the ball on Kellogg's next possession and layed it in on the other end to made it a single-digit game. However, a three-point play by the Bruins' Jakeem Cole quickly pushed the home team's lead back to 11 at 65-54. 

Will Jamison (20 points) and Phillips both got to the rim for scores and Jamison connected on a jump shot to get the team back within seven points. A Roach jumper made it a 67-62 game with 9:15 remaining but Kellogg got an easy bucket on the other end in response. 

Roach turned up the heat on the Vikings' next possession with a 3-pointer, but Kellogg would connect on a pair of free throws and get a boost with a dunk by Jakryen Woods to make it a 73-65 lead with just over eight minutes to play. Two free throws by Roach and a Jamison jumper cut it to four. The Bruins countered at the foul line before Jamison made two of his own at the stripe to get within three points. 

Following another Kellogg made free throw, Roach darted through the lane for a layup to make it 75-73 in favor of the home squad. The Bruins' Cole then drained a triple to take some of the steam out of Glen Oaks. Kellogg pushed the lead back to eight with 3:40 remaining. 

Humphrey kept GOCC in it with a pair of foul shots and Jamison drilled a 3-pointer to regain some momentum. With 1:26 to play, Akin Smith scored down low to make it a two-point deficit. After a Kellogg timeout, GOCC got a steal by Jamison and he'd hit one of two free throws to make it 84-83. Kellogg turned the ball over again following a timeout and Roach kept the Vikings' possession alive with a critical offensive rebound. Smith would end up being fouled and he connected on a foul shot to tie the game with 13 seconds left. 

A missed layup by Kellogg turned into a Roach lay-in the other way as Glen Oaks took an 86-84 lead with three seconds remaining. Roach grabbed a defensive board, was fouled on the play, and he hit a free throw to give Glen Oaks a three-point advantage to seal the win. 

Smith led the team with eight rebounds to go with five points, Humphrey Jr. had nine points and four boards, Moore finished with six points and three rebounds and Roach added four steals, three assists and four boards to his stat line. 

Phillips grabbed six rebounds and scored seven points, Keil finished with six points and three rebounds, Baugh had four rebounds and Jamison came away with four steals. As a team, GOCC shot just over 50 percent from the field and only had nine turnovers compared to Kellogg's 18. The Glen Oaks bench outscored the Bruins 37-18. 

The Vikings improved to 10-8 overall and 3-1 in MCCAA Western Conference play, while Kellogg slipped to 10-5 overall and 1-3 in the league.