Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, hear post-game interviews with Assistant Coach Mike Cretens and Zavier Hayes, and to hear Mykel Lindsey's player spotligtht interview.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team opened the 2025 portion of its schedule Friday night in Florida with a 91-80 win over the Roxbury (Mass.) Tigers at a weekend tournament hosted by Palm Beach State College.
 

The Norse got off to a sluggish start, trailing by as many as nine points in the first half before ramping up the defense and turning the game around with ten different players scoring at least one basket.
 

“I don't know that we played really well at any point, but we battled,” Norse Head Coach Matt Johnson said. “We've got to figure some stuff out. We're coming back after a long (holiday) break, we've got a couple of guys who are healthy who can finally play again, and we're trying to figure out where we all fit together. I'm trying to figure out rotations, and we're battling through life on the road. I love the fight that we had in us.”
 

Kairee Gadson made his season debut, and made his presence known early, getting a slam dunk off of the opening tip, and nailing a three-point basket seconds later. The 5-0 lead didn't last long, as Roxbury's Otto Berzins scored eleven points in the first half.
 

Zavier Hayes kept the Norse in it, nailing three triples to turn a 19-10 deficit into a 33-29 lead late in the first half. Gadson ended up with eleven points in that first half as the 16th-ranked Norse took a 42-35 lead at halftime.
 

“It was a weird one,” Hayes said. “Thoughout a season you're going to face a lot of adversity, a lot of battles. Today, we just faced a lot of adversity. We're a deep team. Everybody came ready to play, and we needed the depth today and we came out and played well. I was feeling good. I came with the mentality that if it's there, let it fly. My dad has always preached that to me.”
 

In the second half, the Norse lead was trimmed to 44-42 as Michael Correia nailed a triple. But Bay's defensive pressure eventually got to the Tigers, as the Norse built a 68-50 lead and Joe Ofori started to dominate in the paint.
 

The game was very choppy, with a total of 75 free throws shot between the two teams. The Tigers shot 46 of them (making 31), with Correia alone making 15 of 20 free throw attempts. Six of his foul shots came on three technical fouls assessed to the Norse, with two of those T's being given to Johnson.
 

Because of that, Johnson was ejected from the game with 9:01 left to play, and he will not be allowed to coach on Saturday when the Norse take on the host Palm Beach State Panthers.
 

“At the end of the day, I stand by it,” Johnson said. “I was advocating for one of our student-athletes who was incorrectly assessed an technical foul. It would havee fouled one of our guys out, and between the book and the three officials, they could not figure it out. I was trying to help them, but they obviously didn't want the help.”
 

“I've been doing this 17 years and I've never been ejected from a game,” Johnson continued. “If technical fouls were given out at this rate, I probably would have been ejected from 500 games. I don't think either one of them were warranted. I thought they were both pretty weak. But I've got to be better and put our guys in a better position.”
 

Assistant Mike Cretens, who has prior collegiate head coaching experience at Trine (Mo,) College, ran the team the rest of the game and will be the acting head coach again on Saturday.
 

“You're never expecting those situations to happen,” Cretens said. “It usually takes a lot to get kicked out of a basketball game, and I don't think he deserved it. It was a battle against the other team AND the officials. That other team played hard. They gave us a big battle, so shout out to them for playing with us. We haven't been healthy all year but we're almost there. In the end, we got it done.”
 

Ofori led the Norse in scoring with 19 points, 13 of them in the second half. Hayes added 17 points, Gadson added15 points, and D'Marco Chelley contributed nine points.
 

Roxbury (9-8 overall) had a four-game winning streak snapped. The Tigers were led by Correia's 26 points. Berzins added 23 points and Imani Jones scored 12 points.
 

Bay College (11-2 overall) has now won nine straight games since a pair of tight losses in Iowa back at the beginning of November. The Norse will take on Palm Beach State Saturday at 5:00 in what will be their final non-conference game of the season.