ESCANABA, MI – The Norse Men's Basketball Team (19-4, 9-0 MCCAA) opened up a big lead in the second half to defeat the Grand Rapids Community College Raiders (15-7, 4-5 MCCAA) by a final score of 99-72 on Saturday. It marked the tenth consecutive win for Bay College.
A 15-3 Norse run in the early going gave Bay their first double-digit lead of the game. Minutes later a small, three-minute slump for the Norse, along with three-pointers from Seth Schuitema (FR, Grant, MI), Herman Brown (SO, Detroit, MI), and Bashir Neely (FR, Benton Harbor, MI) pulled the Raiders to within one.
The uncomfortable lead was short-lived however, as the a 13-2 run for Bay put Grand Rapids 13-points behind their hosts, putting the Norse in a much more comfortable position. They held a 48-34 lead at halftime.
The Raiders made one last run to try and overcome the Norse to start the second half. Three different players connected on shots from behind the arc in a 13-3 run that cut Bay's lead to four points. The home team answered back with eight straight points, almost instantly reclaiming a double-digit advantage.
After the Raiders nailed a three to cut the lead to seven, Bay kicked it into high gear offensively from there as they started to pull away. Bay scored 40 points in the final 12 minutes, while Grand Rapids seemed to run out of steam and mustered just 20 points in the same stretch. The lead would not drop to under 20 points in the final eight and a half minutes of play, allowing the Norse to roll on to a 27-point victory.
Bay held the advantage in the rebounding battle (51-35) and forced GRCC into 17 turnovers while only committing ten of their own. The end result was the Norse getting more looks to score, with 77 overall shot attempts and 28 free throws compared to 66 attempts and 20 trips to the charity stripe for the Raiders.
The Norse hit on 46.8% of those shots, which included a seven of 20 afternoon from three-point. They were good on 20 free throws as well. Grand Rapids Community College was good on 37.9% of their shots and hit ten of 31 from three. They missed eight of their 20 attempts from the free throw line.
Tyrel Creger (FR, Owatonna, MN) was strong throughout to tally a double-double. He had 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block. Genesis Kemp (FR, Grand Rapids, MI) had 24 points off the bench and grabbed seven rebounds. Jacquez Overstreet (FR, Appleton, WI) finished with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Baril Mawo (FR, Manchester, NH) was good for ten points and eight rebounds.
Brown paced the Raiders with 16 points and six rebounds. Danyel Bibbs (SO, Saginaw, MI) had 11 points, while Chris Coleman (SO, Saginaw, MI) finished with ten points.
Bay will look to continue their hot streak on Wednesday when they host Alpena Community College. The Norse beat the Lumberjacks on their home court just over two weeks ago by a final score of 86-50. The rematch at Bay College is scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.