ESCANABA, MI – The Bay College Men's Basketball Team (1-3) notched their first win of the season on Wednesday night, defeating their U.P. rivals the Gogebic Samsons (0-1) by a final score of 99-59.

The first half of the home opener for the Norse turned out to be a back-and-forth affair that featured five ties scores.  The one lead change came at the 14:31 mark when a Chris Dobessi (SO, Detroit, MI) layup put the Norse up 15-13.  The game would be tied one more time after that point, but the Norse would eventually build an eight-point lead.  The Samsons trailed by a score of 45-39 at intermission.

Bay College broke the game open early in the second half.  After a Marlen Williams layup cut the Norse lead to 50-41, Gogebic went on a disastrous scoring drought.  The Norse went on a 21-1 run in the next six minutes to take control of the matchup.  From there the host team was on cruise control as they continued to build a lead and take advantage of some poor shooting by the Samsons.  Bay would close out the night with a 40-point victory on their homecourt.

The Norse defense really stepped up in the second half, limiting Gogebic to just 20 points.  The Samsons shot just 23.1% during that timeframe, including one of 11 from three point.  Bay also dominated the glass in the latter half of the game, outrebounding their guests 24-10 in the second half.  The Norse offense came alive during the same time period as they shot 56.8% from the floor and hit on six of 12 three-point attempts. 

Dobessi led the Norse in scoring with 20 points while grabbing six rebounds.  Jaden Janke (FR, Dollar Bay, MI) recorded his first career double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Matt Wagner (SO, Marinette, WI) added ten points.

Gogebic's Williams led all scorers with a strong 26-point performance.  Sincere Key added 13 points and five steals.

The Norse will be on the road this weekend as they are set for a rematch at Triton College on Friday evening.  They then take on Morton College on Saturday before challenging #1 South Suburban College on Sunday afternoon.  All of those games will have a radio broadcast.  The link for those calls and any livestreams will be posted on the schedule page at www.baynorse.com.