Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos from the game. Click the AUDIO buttons to hear Johnson's post-game comments, and Trey Frye's player spotlight interview.
ESCANABA---The Bay College Norse basketball team led for much of the game in a battle of unbeaten teams Friday night in Escanaba, but the offense went cold in the second half and the 22nd ranked Oakland Community College Owls left Escanaba with a 75-68 victory. The loss wrapped up a four-game homestand for the Norse on a sour note, with road trips to Minneapolis and northern Illinois on the horizon.
“The better team won, plain and simple,” Bay College Coach Matt Johnson said. “They were better than us tonight. They played harder. They made more shots. They won the game. We had plenty of chances, but to beat good teams, you have to be better, you have to execute, and you have to make the shots.”
The first half was tight, with OCC's Jordan Wright scoring ten points and Aaron Chapman adding nine. The Norse matched that output with eleven points from Emerson Droubie, along with points from six different Bay players.
A Taveon Mann basket gave the Norse their biggest lead at 15-7. but the rest of the first half was on the see-saw, with multiple lead changes. Oakland had a 28-27 lead late in the half before the Norse closed on a big run to take a 41-35 lead into the locker room. Kyle Hustrulid had an “and-one” basket during that run, and Ziad Abouali and Adam Page contributed a couple of baskets to end the half on a positive note.
Johnson called it a missed opportunity.
“We should have been up by double digits or more, but we missed six, seven, eight shots in the first half,” he said. “We showed that we could play with anybody, but we've got to be able to make lay-ups, we've got to be able to make open jump shots, we've got to be able to finish plays.”
But in the second half, the Norse had a miserable time on offense. They missed multiple lay-ups, including one possession where they missed four straight put-backs. Vann scored eleven points in the second half to keep Bay in the game, and even with the offensive struggles, the Norse still were within one and two possessions going into the final minutes. Seven second-half turnovers hurt the Norse, however.
Chapman took over for the Owls, scoring 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. Braeden Holder nailed a pair of triples, and Nick Speiser had a pair of “and-one” baskets. That all added up to a game that was there for the taking for Bay, but went to the downstate team that arrived in Escanaba at 2:45 in the morning on Friday.
“When you lead at halftime by six points, you should come out half and dictate what's going on,” Johnson said. “We didn't. They punched us in the mouth and we didn't respond very well. We have to be tougher mentally. I think we played hard. But it was a lack of execution. The more mentally-tough team won the basketball game.”
Bay College (3-1) got a double-double of 15 points and ten rebounds from Vann, and Droubie had a career-high 11 points on three triples. William Kelley scored 12 points, but he missed seven of his eight three-point attempts. Trey Frye had ten points and four assists, and Abouali contributed seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots.
Oakland (5-0) was led by Chapman's 25 points, with Speiser adding 15 points, Wright with 13 points, and Holder chipped in ten points.
The Norse players were given three days off, and will return to practice on Tuesday. The next game is on November 23rd in Minneapolis against Lake Region State College, a Division One school from North Dakota. That game tips at 4:00 ET on the 23rd.
