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MUSKEGON---The Bay College Norse men's basketball team fended off several challenges from the Muskegon Community College Jayhawks on Saturday, and posted a key 84-73 road victory that all but assures the Norse of at least a second place finish in the MCCAA North Conference standings.

The 20th-ranked Norse led for the entire game after the first couple of minutes, building leads of as high as 15 points. But they never could completely put the Jayhawks away on a day where they honored their head coach, Gene Gifford, for his 50 years of collegiate coaching.

“We did enough to get a win,” Norse Coach Matt Johnson said. “I thought offensively, we did a lot of really good stuff. We moved the ball really well. There were times where the ball got kind of sticky, but I think all in all, we moved the basketball, and we shared it really well, and we shot it pretty well (53 percent from the floor). Defensively, we were good at times, but I don't know if it was consistent enough. We got lost on a couple of rotations, and I didn't think we rebounded very well at all.”

Freshman Tre Sanigar, for the second straight game, came off the bench to give his team an offensive boost. He nailed three triples and scored eleven points as the Norse built a small lead, 26-18, midway through the first half.

Sophomore Nic Williams was also on target early, knocking down three triples and also scoring eleven points to build a 46-37 halftime lead for the Norse. Parker Fahning chipped in a triple and lay-up off the bench, D'Marco Chelley had a triple and a driving lay-up, and Josh Williams scored twice and assisted on two other buckets.

In the second half, Bay got the lead out to 58-43 after Kai'Ree Gadson scored twice and Sanigar capped off the run with another long jumper.

But the Lumberjacks did not fold. Ny'Zhem Marshall had an electrifying tip-dunk, and big Joel Katembo added a dunk of his own. And Will Chye got hot from everywhere on the court, scoring 15 second half points, to help Muskegon close to within 66-60 late in the game.

The Norse effectively put the game away with a Ryan Sweeney “and-one” basket that made it 71-60, and the Norse played “keep away” over the last couple of minutes, taking nearly the entire 30-second shot clock before running an offensive play.

Sanigar led the Norse with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, including four triples. Nic Williams was in control all evening, playing more minutes (36) than anyone else on either team. He finished with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and he made all four of his free throw attempts. Williams chipped in four rebounds as well.

“I felt pretty good,” Nic Williams said. “It was good to see the first one (triple) go through. That really gives me some confidence to make some more shots throughout the game. We did a lot of defense (in practice), a lot of rotating because they do a lot of screens, so we had to talk and switch on a lot of things. I got some steals on defense to get going on offense.”

“He (Nic Williams) guarded their best player (Darius Williams), and I thought did a really nice job making everything difficult for him,” Johnson said. “And Josh (Williams) did a nice job. He really solidified everything we were doing on both ends. He rebounded and just kind of ate up some space. He was the one guy who didn't back away from the physicality of these guys.”

Sweeney had eleven points, six rebounds, and two steals. And Gadson contributed eight points and nine rebounds.

For Muskegon, Chye led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, making eleven of his 21 shot attempts from the floor. Kevon Washington added 17 points, and Marshall had a double-double of ten points and 12 rebounds.

“We have to get better at rebounding to be able to play with the best teams,” Johnson said. “Muskegon is good and they're active on the glass, and they kicked out butts. They were more physical than us. They wanted it more than us. But it was a good win. To get one on the road, I'm happy with that for sure.”

Bay College improved to 20-5 overall, 9-2 in MCCAA play, with three games remaining in the conference season. The Norse trail first-place and undefeated Mid-Michigan (10-0), as the Lakers were snowed out of their game against Kirtland on Saturday. That game will be played on Monday in Mt. Pleasant.

The loss dropped Muskegon to 14-10 overall, 7-3 in the conference. The Jayhawks also have a make-up game to play on Monday against Montcalm Community College. Bay's magic number for clinching the second seed is two (wins and/or Muskegon losses).

Bay College is on the road again Wednesday night at Kirtland Community College. Game time is 7:30 from Grayling and it will be broadcast live on FM-106.3 and on-line at www.baynorse.com.