Jamari Smith Pushes Men's Basketball Past RCSJ Gloucester, 80-79!

Toms River, NJ - OCC Men's Basketball elevated to 3-3 overall this season following a thrilling come-from-behind 80-79 victory at RCSJ Gloucester on Thursday (11/20).

In this Region battle between two evenly matched teams, the Vikings were initially coming up on the short end. After finishing the first 40 minutes trailing by 11 points, Ocean battled back, making stops where it counted, and scoring at crucial moments. Sophomore guard Jamari Smith (Barnegat, NJ/Barnegat H.S.), who scored 19 points and pulled in 10 rebounds on the night, scored a seemingly-impossible shot with just 2 seconds remaining on the clock to put the Vikings up by 1, and secure the win. Freshman Aiden Sosinov (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan H.S.) had a fantastic night, leading the team with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 steals, while Kai Barckley (Pine Beach, NJ/Toms River South H.S.) nearly doubled his previous season-best, with 16 points tonight.

"We definitely learned a lot about ourselves in this one," stated OCC Men's Basketball Head Coach Patrick Boylan. "We demonstrated great resiliency in the final moments of the game, which helped us secure the victory. We didn't play our best basketball by any means, but we still found a way to win."

The Vikings next take the court this Saturday, November 22, when they host Community College of Philadelphia at 12pm.