Men's Basketball Drops Close Game Against Westchester, Looks Ahead to Orange on Thursday.

Suffern, N.Y. (2/2/22) The Rockland Community College men's basketball team dropped a conference game to the Vikings of Westchester Community College by a score of 62-58.

 A late surge by Westchester saw the Hawks fall to 2-16 overall, and the Vikings improve to 9-6 overall.

The first half was a battle of two vastly different offensive schemes. For Rockland, the plan was to get the ball to Jorge Mercado (Bronx, N.Y.) and Josendy Nova (Bronx, N.Y.), as the dynamic duo combined to score 29 of RCC's 32 points in the half. While, Westchester took the score-by-committee approach, as five different Vikings scored. Omar Nkonde (New York, N.Y.) and Elijah Gonzalez (Bronx, N.Y.) lead the charge with 9 points apiece for Westchester, who led at the break by a score of 33-32.

In the second half, RCC looked to be on the path to victory. The Hawks were stellar defensively as all five players worked in unison to impede the Vikings and force several turnovers. Xavier Kistoo-Miles (Spring Valley, N.Y.) was able to convert defense into offense, as he scored all 11 of his points in the second half. With five minutes remaining, the Hawks led 55-51, but clutch shots from Westchester quickly cut Rockland's lead to the slimmest of margins. On the next offensive possession, Edward Beqiri (Yonkers, N.Y.) scored his only points of the half to give Westchester the lead at 59-58. Following a few missed shots from RCC, the Vikings added another two to their tally. With just under 40 seconds left, Rockland had possession down three, Mercado got the ball in the right corner, and was forced to take a heavily contested three with the shot clock winding down. The ball hit off the rim and was tipped out of bounds by the Hawks to grant Westchester possession with seconds left. Thomas Hoffman (Bronx, N.Y.) was intentionally fouled and hit one-of-two free throws to ice the game and secure a 62-58 win for the Vikings.

Westchester had an 11-3 run over the final five minutes due to a combination of their intense defense and hot shooting.

The trio of Mercado, Nova, and Kistoo-Miles scored all but three of RCC's points, while the Vikings had eight different scorers, and were boosted by a career-high 17 points from Nkonde.

The Hawks will look to bounce back this Thursday, February 3rd when they travel to Orange County Community College for a conference game with the Colts at 7:00 PM

- Story written by Eamon Lee