PORT HURON, MI – The Bay College Men's Basketball Team (6-4) suffered their second loss in as many days, falling by a final score of 91-78 to the Saint Clair County Skippers (7-1) on Saturday evening.
It was a tale of two halves for the Norse, unfortunately they would come out on top of the wrong one. The Norse would connect on 44.7% of their shots in the first half, including going five of 14 from three-point. An early 13-0 run by Bay College would seemingly put them in control, as St. Clair County would only get as close as six points briefly in the first half. The Norse would lead by eight going into the locker room at half.
Bay College would come out hot to start the second half, and with just over 17 minutes to play they would hold their biggest lead of the game as the score stood at 53-38. The tides would begin to turn at that point. Bay College would not fall off drastically, shooting 31.6% in the half, but it would be the Skippers that would get hot. St. Clair County would hit almost half of the shots they took (14 of 29) and knock down seven of nine three point attempts in the latter frame. The Norse would see their lead evaporate quickly, and with 12:34 remaining the score would be tied at 59.
The teams would trade the lead over the next few minutes, but Bay could not stop the Skippers' momentum. With just under 11 minutes to play, the Norse would grab a one-point lead, but St. Clair County would follow that up with an 11-0 run that would give them the lead for good. From that point on the Skippers had an answer for every Norse basket and attempt to cut into the lead. The final blow to the Bay College chances came in the waning minutes, as the Norse would go just over two minutes without scoring, allowing the Skippers to build a lead which would result in the 13-point loss for the Norse.
"We may have played our best half of the season in the first half," said Head Coach Matt Johnson after the game. "I loved the way our guys responded after a tough loss last night. The kids competed hard and did some very nice things. I thought we outplayed a very good St. Clair team for over 30 minutes, but we have to learn to close out games against good teams."
The Norse entered this weekend's tournament on a six game win streak. The two losses on consecutive days drops their record to 6-4.
Ryan Robinette (FR, Escanaba, MI) continued his hot shooting, hitting four of seven from behind the arc, and finishing with 21 points. Alfonzo Fields (SO, Milwaukee, WI) would end his evening with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Reggie Dean (FR, Milwaukee, WI) would score 12 points. Kobi Barnes (SO, Milwaukee, WI) added ten points and seven rebounds.
The Skippers' Jalen Miller (FR, Lake Fenton, MI) would lead all scorers with 25 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Omari Duncan (FR, Carman Ainsworth, MI) would add 18 points and seven rebounds, while Derrick Johnson (SO, Avondale, MI) would score 13 points.
The Norse will return home on Wednesday evening to play host to Alpena Community College. That game will tip at 8 PM.