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IOWA FALLS, Iowa---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team came home from a long trip to Iowa empty-handed after taking a 83-77 loss late Saturday night to the Ellsworth Community College Panthers. It was a battle of two nationally-ranked JUCO teams, with the Norse being ranked 14th in the country and the Panthers ranked seventh.

It was the second straight close loss to an Iowa team for Bay, after losing by one point Friday afternoon to Iowa Western.

“77 points probably should be enough points for us to win basketball games,” Bay College Coach Matt Johnson said. “We didn't do a very good job defensively. We had some guys come in off the bench and had some blown rotations and missed assignments. That's stuff that we need to tighten up. We need to be better in practice and hold guys more accountable. Against these really good teams, you can't be doing that. We just need to be better.”

The Norse got off to a great start as Tre Sanigar scored eleven of the team's first 13 points, giving Bay a 13-6. Then Ryan Sweeney started warming up with his dribble penetration leading to a pair of and-one baskets, and Bay led 23-14.

But Ellsworth got a big boost off the bench from Bene Martinkaus, who drained three triples and scored eleven points to bring the Panthers back. A Sweeney “and-one” basket just before halftime gave the Norse a 42-41 lead heading into the locker room.

The second half was back-and-forth, with Ellsworth able to get some separation midway through the half, building leads as big as eleven. Taevean Famutini-Brown scored eleven points on four drives to the basket, slicing through the Norse defense that was hobbled without the injured big man Joe Ofori in the middle.

And Martinkaus drained two more triples, both at times when the Norse closed the gap.

“They're good,” Johnson said. “You don't get to be the Number Seven team in the country by accident. It was a great atmosphere. I think their crowd helped them. I feel like everything went their way, and part of that was us having a lack of discipline and toughness when we needed it. We just didn't make enough plays.”

Sweeney was dominating for the Norse, scoring 29 points, grabbing six rebounds, and committing just three turnovers, in 33 minutes of play. Sanigar ended up with 15 points and Nic Williams finished with 14. Martinkaus and Famutini-Brown both had 17 points to lead the Ellsworth Panthers.

The Norse continue to be oh-so-close against top teams, but are still lacking that signature victory for the program.

“We haven't shown that we're good enough to beat them,” Johnson said. “And that's something that we've got to figure out.”

Bay College (2-2) will be at home Wednesday night against Gogebic Community College. Game time is 7:00 and it will be broadcast live on Maverick 106.3 FM.