GOCC split pair of games at Terrace Bay Hotel Classic

After opening the Terrace Bay Hotel Classic in Escanaba with a loss to No. 18 Bay College Friday, the Glen Oaks Community College men's basketball team bounced back Saturday with. victory over North Central Michigan to improve to 6-6 overall this season. 

No. 18 Bay College 98, Glen Oaks 82
(Friday, Dec. 13)

Host Bay College, ranked No. 18 in the National Junior College Athletic Association's Division II, jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Glen Oaks settled in offensively. Mike Phillips hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in the span of 30 seconds and then layed one in a minute later to keep Glen Oaks within a possession. But Bay College would extend the lead to 17-7 at the 15:13 mark in the first half. Bay College eventually pushed it to double digits and Glen Oaks battled to keep it close. 

The Vikings went on a 6-0 run midway through the half as Akin Smith and Darrius Roach scored on layups and Will Jamison connected on a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 28-25. But Bay College finished the final seven minutes on a 25-9 run for a 50-37 halftime lead. 

Bay College (9-2) had an aswer the rest of the way to pick up the home victory. Jamison led Glen Oaks with 18 points, followed by Taurus Baugh (13), Amauri Moore (12) and Roach (11). 

Glen Oaks 79, North Central Michigan 68
(Saturday, Dec. 14)

Darrius Roach put up 15 points, Amauri Moore added 13 and Will Jamison produced 12 in a bounce-back win Saturday. 

Akin Smith got things rolling with a 3-pointer and Will Jamison knocked down a shot from behind the arc for an early 8-6 lead. A Roach triple extended the cushion to 13-8. North Central, however, regained a shortlived lead midway through the half and again with 5:47 to play as the teams battled back and forth. Nate Keil tied the game at 23-23 with a 3-pointer with just under four minutes to play. He drained another jumpber before NCMC answered with a 3-pointer to regain the lead with 2:11 left. 

Two free throws by Mike Phillips, a Keil layup and a lauyp and two frees throw by Moore, and a layup by Roach gave Glen Oaks a 37-31 advantage with 40 seconds left. North Central would capitalize at the line to make it a 37-36 GOCC lead at intermission. 

North Central again regained the lead 42 seconds into the second half. Jamison knocked down a triple to tie things up but NCMC answered with a deep ball. A layup by Moore, a 3-pointer by Roach and another layup and free throw by Moore gave Glen Oaks a five-point advantage at the 15:23 mark. 

A big 3-pointer by Jamison extended the lead to eight and a Baugh layup gave GOCC a 53-43 lead with 13:53 to play. 

A Jamison triple again pushed the Vikings out front by double digits, 59-49, and a jumper by Aaron Humphrey Jr. made it a 12-point cushion. As NCMC came creeping back to within five, back-to-back Moore lay-ins were critical with under 10 minutes to play. 

Up just five points again, Humphrey scored twice from close range to make it 70-61. A Phillips layup gave GOCC a double-digit lead at 6:39 and he'd put the dagger in with a 3-pointer just over a minute later for a 14-point advantage that Glen Oaks would use to survive a late push by North Central.