Toms River, NJ - Ocean County College Men's Basketball fell to the visiting Cougars of Lehigh Carbon CC in the Vikings' season opener, 80-70. 

The Vikings were a bit slow to start, struggling to establish consistent success on offense. The Cougars capitalized on this, ending the 1st half with a 5 point lead. Ocean would return for the 2nd half aggressive, catching up and pulling away, outscoring Lehigh 36-31 in the frame before the teams drew even at the buzzer. Ocean freshman guard Dekari Harrell led Vikings' scoring with 18 points, along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while sophomore guard Brien Dunphy II scored 17 points in the loss.

"I was very proud of the effort and resiliency," stated OCC Men's Basketball Head Coach Patrick Boylan. "Unfortunately, we were not able to overcome our shooting struggles. We did see flashes of really good basketball, which means our next challenge becomes maintaining those flashes and being more consistent. Overall, we are obviously disappointed we couldn't pull out a win in front of a great crowd, but we were happy with the potential that we saw in our players."

The Vikings return to the court on Tuesday, November 14, when they travel to Passaic County CC for a 7:30 P.M. Region 19 matchup versus the Panthers.