Dakota County Pulls Away Late To Top Norse 84-75

ESCANABA---The Dakota County Technical College Blue Knights avenged this month's loss to the Bay College Norse by slipping past the Norse, 84-75, Saturday in Escanaba.

The game was tied at 67-67 with five minutes to play before the visitors made big plays down the stretch. Cody Stica and Lorenzo Smith both knocked down triples during that final stretch drive, and Dakota County prevented Bay from clinching the top seed in the eastern half of next month's NJCAA Region XIII tournament.

The Norse won in Minnesota, 83-79, on Jan. 8. If both the Norse and Blue Knights beat Gogebic Community College in their regular season match-ups, then a coin toss could still determine which team will have the top seed in the subregion.

Bay Coach Matt Johnson says his team turned the ball over too many times (21) and allowd too many offensive rebounds (11) to beat the 20th ranked team in the country.

"They took 21 more shots than we did," Johnson said. "That's not gonna cut it. But we gave ourselves a chance."

"I thought if we were in it with five minutes left, we'd have a good chance to pull it out. It would've been nice to assure that things (post-season games) would come through here, but now, we just have to get back to work."

Bay College had its biggest lead, 27-18, after Christian Alexander scored from under the basket and Ryan Robinette added a jumper. But the Blue Knights got two baskets each from DeShawn Walker amd Termaine Daniels, and Stica had a three and a two. The 18-5 run gave Dakota County a 36-32 lead, and the Blue Knights led, 42-40, at the half.

The teams went at each other throughout the second half. Robinette scored five straight points to give the Norse a 52-50 lead, then Alfonzo Fields drained a triple to make it a 55-50 lead with 14:00 left in the game. But Dakota County had the answer again.

Bay College had its last lead at 60-58 with 10:42 left after a Kobi Barnes put-back. The Norse gave up a 9-2 spurt to fall behind before Tyler Willette brought his team ack to a 67-67 tie with a basket and foul shot with 5:17 left in the game.

The Norse couldn't regain the lead, however, as Fields turned it over twice and the Blue Knights took advantage with five points from Stica, plus Smith's triple.

Dakota County (16-4) was led by Stica's 22 points. Jeremiah Coddon was steady all afternoon with 17 points and six assists. Daniels added 16 points and Walker had 14.

Bay College (14-7) got a monster game from Willette, who led all scorers with 26 points. He made eight of his ten shots from the field and sank ten of his 12 free throw attempts. Willette also had six rebounds. Robinette added 15 points, while McKenney added nine points and five assists. Fields also had nine points in the loss.

The Norse are home Tuesday night to face the Lake Superior State University Junior Lakers. Game time is 8:00. It will be broadcast live on Maverick 106.3 FM.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos, hear radio replays, and listen to interviews with Coach Matt Johnson and Norse center Logan Hardwick.