Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Colin Hudson and Coach Matt Johnson. Also, hear Lamar Grayson's player spotlight interview.

INVER GROVE HTS., Minn.---It was a college basketball battle that you'd love to see happen multiple times.

The Bay College Norse and Dakota County Technical College (Minn.) Blue Knights went down to the wire for literally all 40 minutes Saturday in the Minneapolis suburbs.

When the dust settled, the five-time (minus the COVID year) defending NJCAA Region 13 champion Blue Knights emerged with a 69-67 victory in a game that saw neither team have a lead bigger than seven points. It essentially ended when Bay's Tyrel Creger missed a triple from the left corner with 1.8 seconds left that would have won it.

“It's life on the road,” Norse Head Coach Matt Johnson said. “They don't come easy, especially against good teams like this. We just didn't make enough plays when we needed to. We executed the game plan, I thought, pretty well."

"And we did, in stretches, a lot of really, really good things. I'm not disappointed in the effort at all. Our guys played really, really hard. We competed. To be quite honest, this might be the best we've played all season. We just didn't do enough to grit out a win in a physically-officiated game.”

“It was a tough game, for sure,” Norse freshman Colin Hudson said after scoring a career-high 17 points. “I thought we kept good energy throughout the game. It kind of just came down to the last minute, and, you know, we didn't get it.”

It was the latest a battle in a series of wars that have happened in all six years of Bay College basketball history. These two teams played twice in the regular season in regional seeding games, and often split those games only to meet in the playoffs, with the home court decided by a coin toss.

But with Bay College's move from Region 13 to Region 12, that won't happen again. The only way these two teams could meet again would be if teams qualify for the national tournament and get matched up in Danville, Ill.

There were plenty of storylines, though, on Saturday, despite the lack of regional playoff implications. The history between these two teams is not lost on the players on either squad, and it was special for Bay sophomore Lamar Grayson, and freshmen Tyrel Creger and Cade LaFavor, all of whom are from the Twin Cities area.

While LaFavor didn't crack the lineup on Saturday, Grayson and Creger both had outstanding games as several dozen friends and family members cheered loudly enough to easily drown out the small group of DCTC fans who showed up for the game.

“We probably had more fans here than they did,” Johnson said. “Our Minnesota friends and families showed up, and it was awesome. We put on a hell of a show for them. It would have been nice to walk out of here with a W so that they could have been a part of that."

"This is an example of the support system that we get. We're on the road, and we have more fans here than what the home team did. It just shows a lot about our kids and our families. It's pretty cool. We've got a special thing going here.”

“It's special, just to be back in my hometown where I was born and where I grew up at,” Grayson said. “It always feels good to be back home. I know a lot of those dudes (DCTC players). I played against them in high school. Last year, getting beat by them by 30 almost, in Minnesota, my hometown. It just didn't feel right. But this year, I feel that we came more prepared to play.”

Grayson was on fire in the first half, scoring 15 of Bay's 31 points. He buried two triples, had an “and-one” basket, made all three of his free throws, and hustled for a pair of rebounds as he fed off the energy of playing in his hometown for the last time.

“That feels good,” Grayson said. “It brings me back to high school memories (at nearby Richfield), of having everybody cheer for you and I feel like my family bringing a lot of energy just helps our team. I just try to lead by example, because I know a lot of these (freshmen) guys look up to me. I need to be a leader. But we have an all-around team."

"I know what I need to do. Me and Coach talked about it at the beginning of the season. I just want to thank my family and all my (high school) coaches for what they did for me.”

Creger saved his best work for the second half.
 

The freshman point guard, who has been rock solid this season and rarely turns the ball over, had only one turnover in 35 minutes in Saturday's game. Creger went off offensively, scoring 13 points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out three assists.

“Ty played really, really well in the second half,” Johnson said. “He made some huge plays. Lamar carried us in the first half. We had guys step up.”

And the Norse got a boost from Hudson. The Escanaba High School graduate had by far his best game in a Bay uniform, throwing down a game-high 17 points. The 6-foot-9 Hudson sank two triples and made all three of his free throws.

“We just had to stay locked in the whole time,” Hudson said. “We had to come prepared because this is a good team. We wanted to work the ball inside, and we got the ball inside, we got some good looks. We just didn't do it enough.”

Bay College had the lead for most of the first half, with Hudson converting on the “and-one” basket off the Creger dish to break a 9-9 tie and put Bay in front, 12-9. A Grayson triple with 12:54 left in the half gave the Norse a 17-11 lead, and Joc Overstreet nailed a triple from about five feet behind the line to give Bay its biggest lead at 22-15.

But every time the Norse were on the edge of pulling away, Jeremy Wanguhu brought DCTC back. His triple after Bay had grabbed a seven-point lead led the Blue Knights on a 17-9 spurt that had the home team in the lead, 32-31, at halftime.

DCTC grabbed its biggest lead at 41-35 in the second half before Hudson nailed a triple to cut the deficit in half. Creger then scored Bay's next seven points, including a triple that gave the Norse a 47-45 lead.

Then after DCTC took the lead, Creger dished a pass to Genesis Kemp for a two-handed slam that gave Bay a 49-48 lead.

Another Hudson triple with 9:04 to play made it 54-50, then Overstreet launched his second triple of the game to put the Norse in front by seven again at 57-50 with 8:15 to go.

Down the stretch, though, DCTC had the answers. Dontray Johnson and Trevor Heidish both knocked down three-pointers, and Wanguhu continued to make big shots. His jumper gave the Knights a one-point lead late, but the Norse attacked the basket and got the ball to Hudson, who was fouled, with 1:34 left on the clock.

Hudson made both shots, giving the Norse a 65-64 lead. But Wanguhu replied with a jumper with exactly 1:00 left to put DCTC in front, and then after an empty trip for the Norse, Wanguhu got fouled and made both foul shots.

That put DCTC ahead, 68-65, but the Norse attacked the basket quickly and got it to Overstreet, who scored with 43.2 seconds left to close Bay to within 68-67.
 

The Norse defense then got a stop, which set up a potential game-winning basket in the dying seconds.

The ball was swung around into the corner next to the Bay bench, and Creger launched the triple.

It missed with 1.8 seconds left.

Keyshawn Payne was fouled and made one of two free throws, ending the game with a 69-67 score as Hudson let fly with a desperation full-court heave that fell far short.

“When you're on the road, to win by one, you've got to win by ten or twelve,” Matt Johnson said. “We got up by seven. If we get up by ten or twelve, we probably walk out of here with a win. But we just didn't do enough, and didn't make enough plays.”

The Norse suffered their first loss of the season despite having four players score in double figures (Hudson 17, Grayson 15, Creger 13, and Overstreet 10).

DCTC (5-5) had three players in double figures, led by Wanguhu's clutch 16 points off the bench. Ousseynou Ngom and Dontray Johnson both scored eleven points.

Bay College fell to 6-1 on the season and will have two more challenging road games next weekend: in northern Illinois against the College of Lake County on Sunday, and then next Monday, against another national tournament powerhouse, Milwaukee Area Technical College.