Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos from the game. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear post-game comments from Adam Page, Taveon Vann, and Coach Matt Johnson. Also click to hear the halftime interview with Assistant Coach TJ Schlenvogt.
PORT HURON---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team pulled out another nailbiter on Saturday, beating the Macomb County Community College Monarchs, 73-70, at the St. Clair County Community College Skippers New Year's Classic.
The Norse completed a grueling holiday weekend roadtrip with a 2-0 record, after also outlasting the host SC4 Skippers, 66-57, Friday night.
The team spent New Year's Day on the bus (practicing at St. Ignace High School on the way), and spenr New Year's Night in the hotel. Then the Norse went to work for two big non-conference victories that could vault the Norse into the national rankings. Bay is still perfect in road or neutral site games this season (7-0).
“Every defensive possession was huge, and every offensive possession was huge,” Norse Coach Matt Johnson said after the big win over Macomb. “You have to execute. And if I'm honest, Macomb probably executed a little bit better down the stretch, we just had just three points of a cushion enough to get through it.”
“I knew we had to come out hard.” said freshman Adam Page, who scored eleven points for the Norse. “This was not an easy game. I feel great. Big win. Big confidence win for the team. It just gives us energy going into the rest of the season, going into conference play. It took everybody. It took every guy on the bench, first to last.”
It was a game that no flow to it, with numerous fouls being called. Bay had three players foul out in the second half, so it was all-on-deck down the stretch.
“I'm proud of the guys for weathering the storm, and battling tooth-and-nail, and doing everything the could just to give ourselves a chance,” Johnson said. “Every guy did some really, really good stuff for us today. The officiating, and the amount of free throws they shot in the second half (23 of them), the stoppages of play, and the clunkiness of the flow of it, really took us out of it. So, I'm really proud of our guys, for sure.”
Bay led, 33-27, at halftime, but the Monarchs kept fighting, with Tarabri Howard, Caron Williams, and Lajuan Holloway taking turns attacking the basket. They all finished with 13 points for Macomb (7-8 overall), but the Norse had the answer each time.
The Norse grabbed a 54-43 lead midway through the second half as Taveon Vann scored ten of his 12 points in the first part of the half. After the Monarchs made a run, Norse big man Ziad Abouali went into beast mode midway through the second half to help Bay keep that lead. He had a running one-handed jam to give the Norse a 63-58 lead, igniting the bench and the sizable Bay cheering section that made the long trip to Port Huron.
In the final minutes, it was Vann and Adam Page who carried load. Both scored six points, and Trey Frye sank two big free throws in the closing seconds to keep the Norse in the lead. And they defending a last-ditch three-point attempt by the Monarchs that ended up well short of the mark.
“I had to make sure I kept my head, and stayed calm and patient, and I got good looks,” said Vann, who fouled out late in the game. “It was intense. I knew off the rip that Macomb is a good team. I knew we had to come out here and give them our best energy and everything we had with effort. I was asking for the ball more, and I was feeling it.”
Bay College improved to 11-2 on the season, with one more non-conference game left before MCCAA play begins next Saturday. The Norse will host the Bryant and Stratton Bobcats from Milwaukee on Wednesday. The Bobcats are off to an 11-5 start in their 16 games heading to Escanaba.
“We would love to have the Bay College Gymnasium packed,” Johnson said. “It will be a high-level basketball game. This is a really, really big game.”
Game time is 7:30 ET. You can hear the game live on Maverick 106.3 FM and on-line by following the link at www.baynorse.com.
