ROLLING ALONG: Norse Smack Muskegon, 90-56

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and hear post-game comments from Coach Matt Johnson and player of the game Jaylen Flaniken.

ESCANABA---This playing in a conference thing is off to a pretty good start.

The Bay Colege Norse men's basketball team took an early lead and never looked back, beating the Muskegon Community College Jayawks, 90-56, Saturday in Escanaba.

The win improved the Norse to 3-0 in MCCAA North Division play. The Norse share the division lead with Mid Michigan College, with still eleven games left in the season.

"It was great energy by all of us tonight," Norse Coach Matt Johnson said after his team made 68-percent of its two-point shot attempts (34-of-50). "That's just increduble. We've got to start knocking down some perimeter jump shots, but we are getting great shots in the paint. It was an awesome effort, heck of a win for us, for sure."

The Norse had a huge size advantage over the Jayhawks, who came to Escanbaa shorthanded due to injuries.

The Norse routinely passed the ball into the paint, and mid-range jump shots were wide open from the free throw area all day long. Early on, Justin Nelson had two slam dunks off passes from Colin Hudson and Tyrel Creger, giving Bay an 18-8 lead.

The lead kept growing throughout the first half. Lamar Grayson scored 13 points in the first half, including a drive that led to a buzzer beater jumper that ended the first half with Bay in front, 49-26.

Genesis Kemp put in nine points in eight first-half minutes off the bench, and Jaylen Flaniken added a triple as well as an "old-fashioned" three-point play.

One of the highlights of the second half was a breakawy slam dunk...by guard Jaylen Flaniken?

"I always struggle with my legs and stuff, but the last three or four months, I've been working a lot on my mobility and flexibility," Flaniken said. "That's helped a lot. So, when that came, I was thinking dunk the whole time. I'm not laying this in. I'm banging it! And it just happened."

"That's awesome for Jaylen to be able to get that," Johnson said. "Most of the time in practice, when we're shooting layups or going through anything where he can get a dunk, he looks like an overweight 40-year-old man that's playing city league or noon ball because he doesn't get up above the rim. But he threw that one down pretty easily. His legs are feeling good."

Flaniken led the Norse with 18 points, and Grayson added 17. Hudson chipped in eleven points, and Michael Foust came off the bench to nail two triples and a mid-range jump shot.

The Norse had 12 different players score. Creger, the point guard, scored one basket, and dished out seven assists and grabbed nine rebounds in 28 minutes of play.

"We executed the defensive gameplan about as well as we can," Johnson said. "This is a really, really good team. To hold them in the 50's was unbelievable. I never thought we were going to be able to do it. I was hoping we could sqeak out a 80-75 win. So to hold them to 56 is a great effort y our guys."

Muskegon (7-10 overall, 1-2 MCCAA) got 14 points each fromVern Nash and Jadakiss Lewis, but the injury list grew with Jarvin Graham falling hard on his hip and reaggravating a previous injury. The Jayhawks now are down to eight healthy bodies as they get ready to face Grand Rapids Community College on Wednesday night.

As for the Norse, it's the kind of start that Johnson could have only dreamed of: 3-0 in the conference, and 13-4 overall. Suddenly, those close losses to Palm Beach State and Dakota County Technical College are just distant unpleasant memories.

And now Bay heads downstate to Alpena (1-9 overall, 0-3 MCCAA) and Saginaw (Delta College, 4-11 overall, 2-1 MCCAA). Life on the road isn't easy, but Johnson likes his team's position.

"If you would have told me that we would be 3-0 heading into this road trip, I would've been very happy with it," Johnson said. "I was hoping to somehow sneak out 2-1, but we're at 3-0, and if we can come back with one or two wins off this road swing, we're going to be in a really, really good spot to finish this out."

"We're 3-0 in conference play and I'm pretty hyped about it," Flaniken said. "It's a good start, but obviously, we've got to play each team twice, so we can't take our foot off the gas. We've got to keep going. It's not going to be easy. We have a lot of depth. A lot of guys can get in and play. It's a matter of time before we start doing some really good things down the line."

Wednesday's game from Alpena starts at 7:30 and Saturday's game from Saginaw starts at 3:00. Both will be broadcast live on FM-106.3 and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.

Sio