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

DEARBORN---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team lost for the first time in nearly three months on Sunday, falling to the third ranked team in the country, the Henry Ford College Hawks, 105-85, in the Hawks Gym in suburban Detroit.

It was the championship game for the Michigan Community College Athletic Association, and the Eastern Conference champions showed why they're so highly-ranked. The Hawks nailed 13 three-point baskets and had four slam dunks as the Norse lost for the first time against a Michigan-based team.

The last time the Norse lost a game was in early January, when they lost two close games to Palm Beach State College down in Florida. Since then, it's been 16 straight wins, but the Norse were not able to keep up with the high-flying Hawks.

“We let them punch us in the face to start,” Bay College Coach Matt Johnson said. “Once we settled in, we played them, and I thought that we more than held our own. I'm disappointed that we got beat. We let them off the hook too many times, and against a team of this caliber, you can't do that."

"You can't give them second chance opportunities, and you can't turn the ball over and give them layups and dunks. And we did that a couple different times, in a couple different stretches. And boy, oh, boy, did they make us pay.”

The Norse took a 3-0 lead on a Lamar Grayson triple on the opening possession, and they never led again. A triple by D'Quarian Cole completed an 11-2 run, and then D'Juan Seal scored four baskets as the Hawks raced to a 40-18 lead late in the first half.

Colin Hudson tried to keep the Norse in the game with two triples and a pair of two-point field goals, but those ten points by the Escanaba High School graduate didn't put much of a dent in the Hawks lead, which grew to as big as 50-25 in the first half.

Hudson finished with 18 points, but he wasn't too happy about it.

“We didn't get the win, so that's kind of disappointing,” Hudson said. “We knew they were going to be a really good team. We knew we couldn't come out and let them go on a run. And they kind of did. They got up, and then they just kind of tailored that lead all the way until the end. We had a few runs, but they just answered back.”

The Norse trailed at halftime, 55-36.

“They're really good,” Johnson said. “They very well could be the best team in the country. In fact, if I was voting, I'd have them number one. They've got a ton of piece. They play really hard. They play with a ton of confidence, really loose, and really free offensively. And they're unselfish. They share the ball incredibly well.”

Bay may have been way behind, but the guys came out determined to start the second half. A Ty Creger triple got it started, Grayson had a spinning short jumper, and then Joc Overstreet had a basket “and one”.

All of a sudden, the Norse trailed by only 12 at 57-45 with 16:00 still to play, and the Norse had the ball. But three straight triple tries went unanswered, and the Norse never challenged again. Johnson says, though, that it was an encouraging sign.

“I'm not so sure that we're not better than we thought we were,” he said. “We just have to believe it. Us coaches do. But the guys have to believe that.”

Henry Ford (24-5 overall, #3 NJCAA national poll) threw up 37 three-pointers, and made 13 of them. Six different Hawks players scored at least one triple, and they had five players score in double figures. Seal led the way with 24 points, and Cole had a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds. Tyler Mack also scored twelve points, and Ron Hill and Marcus Gibbs both contributed ten points.

Bay College was led by Grayson, who scored 19 points, and Hudson, who tallied 18. Genesis Kemp came off the bench to produce yet another double-double: 14 points, ten rebounds, in 22 minutes of play. He made all of his free throws (4-for-4) and he made all ten of his charity shots this weekend.

The loss dropped Bay's record to 25-5, but the Norse come home with the North Conference trophy, and the MCCAA runner-up trophy. Both placques were presented to the Norse during, and after, the tournament.

“Our kids played hard,” Johnson said. “It wasn't like we didn't work hard. We competed. We got after them. (But) I don't know that we competed well early. I think we were a little bit shell-hocked, and a little bit scared. But once we settled in, and we started believing in ourselves and that we could play at this level, I thought we did a nice job.”

The Norse now turn their attention to the NJCAA Region 12 tournament next weekend in Flint.

Bay will be the top seed, and will take on the winner of Tuesday's Glen Oaks vs Southwest Michigan game at 4:30 Friday afternoon.

If the Norse win that one, they would play in the regional championship game Sunday afternoon with an automatic bid to the national tournament on the line.

“You learn a lot more from losses than you ever do from wins,” Johnson said. “There was a lot of learning opportunities in today's game that are going to make us better next week when we play the two that truly matter.”