COON RAPIDS, MN – The Bay College Men's Basketball Team (8-6) pulled away late in the game from a pesky Anoka-Ramsey Community College Golden Rams (7-4) team, and finished with a 76-59 victory.
The Norse took control early in what would be a repeating trend throughout the contest. After a 12-4 run to start the game, Bay saw the early lead evaporate quickly, as the Golden Rams answered with eight points to tie the game. Once again the Norse were able to extend a lead, holding an 11-point advantage with five minutes to play in the first half. Anoka-Ramsey cut that lead to four, before a Tyler Beauchamp (FR, Kingsford, MI) three-pointer sent the Norse to the locker room with a seven-point half time lead.
Bay was particularly efficient shooting in the first half, connecting on 55.2% of their shots. The Golden Rams hit just 30.9% of their shots, and struggled from the outside, hitting on just two of 18 three-point attempts.
The second half continued nearly identically to the first half. Bay jumped out to a 52-40 lead, looking as though they would control the game, only to see Anoka-Ramsey make another furious comeback. The Golden Rams rattled off ten points before Bay could respond, and with just over seven minutes to play, DJ Pettigrew (SO, Milwaukee, WI) hit a three-pointer to give the host team their first lead since the early going.
The Norse defense shut down Anoka-Ramsey from there. The Golden Rams did not get a field goal the rest of the game, only scoring three points on free throw attempts down the stretch. Meanwhile Bay took advantage and scored 21 points over that final seven minutes, allowing them to finish with a comfortable 17-point lead.
The Golden Rams had a poor shooting afternoon. They hit just nine of 39 attempts in the second half, and finished the day with a 26.9 field goal percentage. They did not get better from deep either, and only connected on six of 44 shots from behind the three-point arc.
The Norse dropped off some in the second half, but had a strong shooting performance overall. They connected on 48.1% of their shots and were 11 of 24 from three-point.
"I am proud of effort," said Head Coach Matt Johnson. "We definitely still have lots of room to improve, but once again we showed our toughness and did what was need to rebound after a first night losss and get a Sunday win on the road against a good team. Anoka-Ramsey is a very nice basketball team that will win a lot of games this season. Our defensive effort tonight was much better, especially in the last five plus minutes. We never allowed them to get clean looks. Overall, it was a great team win going into the break."
Ryan Robinette (SO, Escanaba, MI) led the charge for the Norse. He was ten of 16 from the floor, six of ten from behind the arc, and finished with 26 points and eight rebounds. Christian Alexander (SO, Dorset, UK) finished a strong weekend with 13 points and six rebounds.
Nashiem Lozier (SO, Fort Lauderdale, FL) tallied a double-double, scoring twenty points and bringing in 14 rebounds. Pattigrew added 12 points and five rebounds for the Golden Rams, while Dylan Hay (SO, Rapid City, SD) added 11 points and five rebounds.
The Norse now take a break for the Holidays. They return to action at home as they will host the Quality Inn & Suites New Year's Tournament on January 3 and 4. Bay will host Sault College on that Friday at 8 pm. Saturday's matchups are dependent on the results of the first day's games.