ESCANABA, MI – The Bay College Norse hosted their annual Quality Inn & Suites Holiday Classic on December 29 and 30.  Gogebic Community College, Alpena Community College, and Milwaukee Area Technical College would all participate.  Bay College would get a win against Alpena Community College on Saturday, before falling to Milwaukee Area Tech on Sunday.

GAME 2 - The Stormers Too Much for the Samsons

MATC - 114, Gogebic CC - 51

In the second matchup of the day, first for the men, it would be the Milwaukee Area Tech Stormers (12-2) rolling past the Gogebic Community College Samsons (1-14) by a final margin of 63 points.

MATC would utilize a high pace attack to amass 64 points in the first half.  After the Samsons would take their only lead in the game early, the Stormers would go on a 19-2 run to give them the lead for good.  Disaster would strike for Gogebic as their offense would go cold to end the first half.  They would go on a nearly ten minute scoring drought, allowing MATC to end the first half on a 36-0 run.

Offensively Gogebic would recover in the second half, but by that point the deficit was just too much to overcome.  Milwaukee Area Tech would have an outstanding shooting performance, hitting on 59.5% of their shots from the field.  They would bury the Samsons in the rebounding battle, 51-27, which included twenty offensive rebounds.  The Stormers would also accumulate 25 steals, creating 32 Gogebic turnovers in the matchup.  All of those advantages would allow them to cruise to victory.

Six different Stormer players would score in double-digits with Shannon Standford (SO, Milwaukee, WI) leading the way with 22 points and six rebounds.  Yuri Swinford (FR, Bloomington, IL) would end with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing ten rebounds.  Mitchell Borseth (FR, Ontonagon, MI) would lead the Samsons with 18 points.

GAME 4 - The Norse Use a Big Scoring Night to Get Past Lumberjacks

Bay College - 116, Alpena CC - 76

The Norse (11-5) would tie a season high for scoring in a game as they would pull away midway through the first half to beat the Alpena Community College Lumberjacks (0-7) to end the first night of action in the tournament.

The Norse seem to have the Lumberjacks number this season as they would put together a box score that was eerily similar to the December 5 meeting the two teams had in Escanaba, a game that the Norse won by a final score of 113-91.  Bay College would have another outstanding shooting performance in this one, hitting 53.2% of their shots from the floor, including 13 of 28 from three-point.  Defensively the Norse would create 23 Alpena turnovers. 

The Lumberjacks would be solid from the floor, hitting 39.5% of their shots, but a seven of 29 performance from behind the arc would deflate their percentages some.  While they would only miss two free throws in the contest, they would get to the line just 11 times, while the Norse would convert 21 of 32 attempts from the charity stripe.  In the end the Lumberjacks would be overwhelmed by the Norse shooting performance, and fall by forty points.

Alfonzo Fields (SO, Milwaukee, WI) would lead Bay with 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists.  Ryan Arndt (FR, Bark River, MI) would add 14 points, while Reggie Dean (FR, Milwaukee, WI) would end with 13 points and eight rebounds.  All 13 Norse players would score in the matchup.  Alpena's Timothy Hopkins (SO, Flint, MI) would lead all scorers with twenty points.  Two Lumberjacks would end with double-doubles in the loss.  Isaac Hogsett (FR, Kokomo, IN) would score 11 points and grab 11 rebounds, while Logan Guenther (FR, Cheboygan, MI) would end with ten points and 13 rebounds.

GAME 6 - Second Half Comeback Not Enough, Samsons Top Lumberjacks

Gogebic CC - 83, Alpena CC - 71

After being down 18 at halftime, the Alpena Community College Lumberjacks (0-8) would see a comeback attempt fall short as the Gogebic Community College Samsons (2-14) would take the game by a final of 83-71.

The Samsons would use a hot first half to build a lead.  They would hit on 50% of their shots, including going six of 13 from three point.  Alpena would only connect on eight of their 33 attempts to find themselves in a hole at intermission.

An 11-3 run by the Lumberjacks to start the second half would get them right back into the picture.  Alpena would continue to hang around and with nine minutes remaining, they would cut the lead to just six points.  With time winding down, the Lumberjacks would hit a scoring drought at the worst possible time.  The Samsons would go on an 11-2 run, and with just over three minutes remaining, they would hold a 16-point lead.  That would put an end to the comeback hopes of Alpena, as the Samsons would take the 12 point vctory.

Gogebic's Borseth would lead all scorers with 27 points, while grabbing nine rebounds and dealing out four assists.  Seven Nelson (FR, Iron River, MI) ended his afternoon with 18 points, ten rebounds, and three blocked shots, while Brayden Tomes (FR, Bessemer, MI) would score 15 points.  Hopkins would lead the Lumberjacks in scoring, totaling twenty points in consecutive games.  Guenther would contribute 15 points while grabbing 18 rebounds, while Oliver Rice (SO, Hale, MI) and Garrett Miller (FR, Lake Leelanau, MI) would each add ten points.

GAME 8 - MATC Storms Past Norse

MATC - 108, Bay College - 74

The Milwaukee Area Technical College Stormers (13-2) would win big on consecutive days, cruising to a 108-74 victory over the Bay College Norse (11-6) on Sunday afternoon.

The Stormers would start the game on a 20-3 run and never trail in the matchup.  They would shoot 50.6% from the floor for the game and create 28 Norse turnovers to take the host team out of the game.  All 13 MATC players would score in the matchup.

After finding themselves in a 29-point hole at the half, Bay College would start to find themselves on offense again in the second half.  They would shoot 57.7% from the field in the latter portion of the game, reduce their turnovers in the second half, and match the Stormers rebounding-wise during that time period.  The deficit was too much to overcome, however as MATC continued to roll towards their 34-point victory.

Sanford would lead the Stormers with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.  D'Angelo Young-Pryor (SO, Streator, IL) would add 14 points, while Jason Webb Jr. (FR, Milwaukee, WI) would score 11 points.  Bay College's Kobi Barnes (SO, Milwaukee, WI) would lead all scorers with 22 points, while grabbing seven rebounds.  Dean would kick in 19 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Fields would end his afternoon with 14 points, six rebounds, and three steals.