Valhalla, NY – The Vikings took home their first win of the season last night over Essex County College by the score of 93-86.
 
SUNY Westchester opened the evening with honoring Military Veterans from the community in conjunction with Veterans Day by hanging a new flag in Viking Gymnasium thanks to US Navy Veteran and former Viking softball coach Buddy Caruso. The flag was flown on the DGL-8 USS MacDonough as the holiday flag and now has a permanent home to be honored at every home event.
 
Then, there was what turned out to be a great basketball game. The first half would start off rather slow with the first points lighting up the scoreboard at the 17:55 mark thanks to Luke Walker. The Wolverines (0-3) would then go on a quick 7-0 run to take an early 7-2 lead. Essex would slowly try and build off their lead over the Vikings however, Elijah Hernandez, Luke Walker, and Chris Kirkland would keep SUNY Westchester in the ball game raining three-pointers throughout the half. Combined, the trio would go 8-17 from beyond the arc (.470 3pt %) and would have 39 of the Vikings 49 first half points. SUNY WCC would trail by two heading into the locker room at halftime.
 
The second half saw the Vikings defense go into lockdown mode while offensively, would continue to shoot well. Mody Siby would take away three opportunities from the Wolverines while scoring all of his nine points in the half. Westchester would limit Essex's top scorers Ethan Laquindanum and Jarrett Nelson to 16 total points enroute to their victory. SUNY WCC would also keep the Wolverines off of the foul line in the entire second half only committing four personal fouls.
 
In total, the Vikings would shoot 50% (35-70) on the evening draining 15 three-pointers. Hernandez would have a career-high and game-high 33 points with seven assists, six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Kirkland would have a season-high 20 points and five rebounds on the evening. Robert Bori would contribute 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Essex would be led by Laquindanum who had a team-high 24 points and 10 assists.
 
The Vikings look to build off the win with their next home game on Saturday November 16^th against Potomac State. Tip-off will be at 4pm inside Viking Gymnasium.