Click the thumbnails to see photos and video highlights, and hear post-game comments from Tyrel Creger and Coach Matt Johnson. Also click to hear Baril Mawo's player spotlight interview.

IRONWOOD---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team built a 22-point lead over the Vermillion (Minn.) College Ironhawks on Sunday, and coasted to a 66-60 win on the final day of the Lindquist Classic on the campus of Gogebic Community College.

The Norse improved to 6-0 on the season, although they weren't particularly satisfied with the overall effort in the contest against the 2-4 Ironhawks.
 

“I don't that we ever played real well, to be honest with you,” Norse Coach Matt Johnson said. “We were flat. The stats only have us down for ten turnovers, but I'm pretty sure we had more than ten turnovers. It felt like we turned it over a bunch. We just didn't play real well. We didn't shoot it well, that's part of it. We used up all of ours last night (in a 102-54 win over Hibbing).”

“I think we played well in spurts, but I think we have to be more consistent overall,” point guard Tyrel Creger said. “I mean, I'm happy with the win, and we're 6-0, that's great. But that's a team that we should beat by more than six points. We only outrebounded them by four (45-41) and we have a lot more size than them. Overall, it's a great W. But we've just got to be more consistent in a lot of areas.”

The Norse did enough, though. After trailing 9-8 six minutes into the game, Bay scored seven straight points, with Carter Hudson blocking a shot at one end and Creger feeding a streaking Lamar Grayson for a lay-up to make it a 16-9 game.

Genesis Kemp, who regularly gives the Norse an energy boost, did so again in this one with a sweet spin-move for a driving lay-up, followed moments later by a slam dunk that put Bay in front, 28-20. The Norse led at halftime, 30-20.

Bay effectively put the game away by outscoring Vermillion 23-11 to start the second half, building their biggest lead at 53-31. Creger led the way with nine points in the second half, and he made Bay's only triple on the afternoon, with the Norse shooting only 1-for-20 from behind the three-point line.

Down the stretch, Johnson substituted freely and the Ironhawks made a string of three-point baskets. Vermillion outscored Bay 20-8 in the final six minutes.

“I think it was an energy thing,” Johnson said. “I was worried about that at the start because we played so well yesterday and we shot the ball so well. Then we watched the first half of the Gogebic and Vermillion game, and it was a slow, ugly, not-much-flow kind of game (21-19 at halftime). I think we thought we were just going to walk in here and get one. We need to be a lot better than we were today.”

“I agree,” Creger said. “Our energey kind of dropped off. When that dies off, a lot of things come with it. So, we've got to stay more focused and be more consistent.”

Creger led the Norse with 14 points and 11 rebounds, he dished out five assists, and got three steals on defense, in 35 minutes of playing time.
 

“Ty does a lot of really good things for us,” Johnson said. “He kind of makes us go. I think we go as Ty goes. He's one of those guys that you can always count on to be locked in, and do things the way that we're trying to do them. Very solid defensively, he moves the ball offensively, he shoots it at a very good clip, and he rebounds it really well.”

And Creger doesn't turn the ball over. He had just one turnover in 35 minutes on Sunday, after having zero turnovers in 25 minutes on Saturday.

Grayson, who missed Saturday night's game with a stomach ailment, came back on Sunday to score eleven points, seven of them in the second half.

Kemp added 14 points off the bench, including two dunks, and he chipped in four rebounds, three of them on the offensive end. Sophomore center Justin Nelson also scored in double figures with eleven points and he added four rebounds.

Vermillion got 16 points from Brian Ritchie, 14 from C.J. Brown, twelve from Ronald Ducros, and ten points from Sammy Russ. The Ironhawks made eight triples, but turned the ball over 20 times and made only eight of their 14 free throw attempts.

Bay College is off to a 6-0 start for a second straight season. But as Johnson warned last year, the toughest part of the schedule lies ahead and his team needs to play better.

That starts next Saturday with a road game against the defending NJCAA Region 13 champion and national tournament qualifier Dakota County Technical College in the Twin Cities.

DCTC is off to a slow 4-5 start in nine games this season, but Johnson warns that Peter Olafeso's team will be Bay's toughest challenge to date.

“If we play like this next Saturday, it's going to be a really, really long bus ride home,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, we can go there and have a battle. We need a tough one, we really, really do. We're sitting at 6-0 and we're all feeling pretty good about ourselves, and rightfully so. But we need to be a lot better than we were this afternoon.”

Saturday's game against the Blue Knights is scheduled for a 3:00 ET/2:00 CT start. It will be broadcast live on The Voice of the Norse, Maverick 106.3, and on-line at radioresultsnetwork.com.