Viking men win 2025-26 basketball debut

The Glen Oaks men's basketball team, led by first-year head coach Sam Waniewski, had a strong showing to start the 2025-26 campaign Friday with an 89-81 victory over Kennedy-King at the Roadrunner Classic at Southwestern Michigan College. 

Sophomore guard/forward Amauri Moore dumped in 20 points and five other players reached double figures in the effort, including a 6-for-9 shooting day for freshman point guard Darius Styles, who notched 16 points. Styles connected on four 3-pointers. 

Next in line were Kelvion Brown (14), Akin Smith (13), Joreim Lomax (12) and Jordan Lomax (10). Brandon Williams finished with four to go with three steals. 

Smith paced the squad with six rebounds and Brown pulled down five. Jordan Lomax also recorded three assists, while Styles, Smith and Brown dished out two apiece. 

Moore hit 8 of 13 field goal attempts for the game. The Vikings built a 26-15 lead with 7:35 to play in the first half until the Statesmen went on a run to cut it to three with under four to play. Brown had a big putback to stop the bleeding and then connected on a silky jumper to give GOCC a seven-point advantage. A layup at the horn by Kennedy-King would make it a 40-37 game in favor of the Vikings at the break. 

The Statesmen tied the game at 40-40 early in the second half and would eventually pull ahead 47-42. Joriem Lomax drained a triple and Brown scored in transition to keep GOCC within a bucket. Brown was fouled on a 3-point attempt and he hit two foul shots to make it a 51-49 game in favor of Kennedy-King. 

Trailing by six with 13 minutes left, Moore spun through the lane for a basket to keep it close, and Styles hit a triple to get back within three points a minute later. Styles would convert again from behind the arc to keep GOCC within two points on the next trip down the floor. A steal by Jordan Lomax at midcourt resulted in him laying it in to tie the game at 59-59 with 11:27 remaining in the contest. 

A floater down the lane by Styles put the Vikings back out front before Moore worked his way through traffic down low to give GOCC a four-point cushion. The game was tied at 63-63 with nine minutes to play and Joriem Lomax ignited the Viking bench with a 3-pointer right in front of his teammates. Glen Oaks would remain out front the rest of the way.