Pirates drop home opener to Miramar

COSTA MESA -- In the first of two in a row against Miramar College, the Orange Coast College men's basketball came up cold late in the second half and fell to the visiting Jets, 84-76, on Tuesday night inside the Peterson Gym.

Jydon Hall led OCC (4-5) with 27 points, while Aundrel Pua added 21 points and six rebounds off the bench. It was a rough night for the rest of the Pirates, who shot a combined 10-for-31 after a red-hot start to the game.

For the Jets (5-2), all six of their players who played, reached double digits, including Cameron Barry and Jacob Doffing, who each had 17 points. Doffing also led Miramar with 14 rebounds, while Alex Mirhosseini dished out a game-best seven assists to go along with 13 points.

The aforementioned hot shooting put the Pirates in a 22-10 advantage to kick things off as OCC hit seven of its first 10 3-point attempts.

But things cooled off the rest of the way from long range as Coast managed to go 5-of-23 the rest of the evening.

Miramar shook off the early cold start and outscored the Pirates 33-20 and led 43-42 at the half.

Coast grabbed a 65-60 lead with 9:05 remaining in the game, but scored just two points over the next eight minutes as a 17-2 Miramar run over that span proved to be the difference-maker. 

The same two teams will go at it again inside the Peterson Gym on Friday night, beginning at 5:30 p.m.