Glen Oaks men come up short at SMC

Host Southwestern Michigan College rallied Saturday for a 67-62 men's basketball victory against Glen Oaks. 

Mike Phillips finished with a team-high 18 points for the Vikings, who had a 32-29 lead at halftime. 

The Vikings got out to a 15-5 lead but SMC went on an 10-0 run near the midway point of the first half to tie the game. Roach scored under the basket to put Glen Oaks back in front briefly and Keil made a baseline reverse layup to break another tie. Southwestern would evenaully pull ahead 23-19 after a dunk and consecutive layups off turnovers with 6:24 remaining in the first half. A Jamison drive and a 3-pointer by Ananias Evans made it a 24-23 contest in favor of GOCC two minutes later. Southwestern answered on its next possession with a deep jumper but Phillips delivered on a corner trey coming out of a timeout to regain the lead. Tied up at 27-all, Taurus Baugh burried a 3-pointer at the 2:38 mark and Phillips hit a pull-up jumper at the top of the key with 47.4 seconds left on the clock for a 32-29 Glen Oaks advantage that would stand until intermission. 

Darrius Roach had only two points in the first half but he errupted for 13 in the final 20 minutes for a 15-point effort. Phillips got things going for the Vikings with a drive through traffic to start the second half. A Roach jumper and a free throw by Amauri Moore gave GOCC a 37-31 lead a little over two minutes in. Baugh connected on two foul shots to extend the lead to six points but another SMC dunk got the Roadrunners fired up and they'd hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to cut the deficit to one. 

Phillips answered with a triple on the other end but it was another dunk in transition by Southwestern that capped the Vikings' momentum. And with 11:51 to play, SMC tied things up at 42-42 with two free throws. A 3-pointer soon after gave the Roadrunners their first lead since late in the first half but Akin Smith connected on a triple from the corner to tie the game. Aaron Humphrey Jr. converted in the post to give GOCC a 47-45 lead but the Vikings couldn't get shots to fall on their next two trips down the floor. 

The Roadrunners capitalized and turned the table for a 49-47 lead with 8:26 to go. A pair of Baugh free throws tied the contest again, but SMC kept attacking the rim for high-percentage shots and a six-point cushion. Phillips found Moore cutting baseline for a bucket to end the drought at the 5:30 mark. And after a defensive stand, Glen Oaks cut the deficit to two points when Roach got his own rebound for an easy putback. However, the Roadrunners kept pounding it down low to stay in the driver's seat.

With 3:21 remaining, Roach hit a fadeaway jumper to trim SMC's lead to two points once again. Phillips pulled up for a long two to tie the game at 57-57 with 1:26 to go but the Roadrunners hit a 3-pointer on the next possession that forced the Vikings to start fouling. Down 63-57, Roach slashed his way to the basket for a score and he hit a trey 10 second later to keep Glen Oaks within a possession. Southwestern tacked on two more free throws to preserve the victory. 

Baugh and Moore each finished the game with seven points, Smith had six, Humphrey Jr. chipped in four, Evans had three and Nate Keil finished with two. 

The loss moved Glen Oaks to 15-12 overall and 8-5 in the MCCAA Western Conference (fourth place). The Vikings wrap up the regular season Wednesday at home against conference-leading Kalamazoo Valley.