Bay College sophomore Taveon Vannmake a move to the basket. Submitted Photo

HAMLINE Minn. — The Bay College Norse split a pair against Lake Region State College here Sunday as the Men earned a 79-69 win and the Women fell for the first time this season 75-74.

The men’s team had a 42-37 lead at the halftime break.

“We had guys step up and play some really big minutes in roles that their not used to,” Norse Men’s coach Matt Johnson said. “Emerson Droubie was vey good for us had 13 points and eight rebounds and had a really good second half and Taveon Vann was really good he had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assist and Trevor Nolan came of the bench and did what Trevor does he hit five of eight from three the three he missed almost went down they were all great shots some of them from darn near Escanaba and they still almost dropped for him and some of them did.”

The Norse came out strong in the second half as they outscored the Royals 37-32 to get the win.

“I was very happy with our effort tonight,” Johnson said. “It was probably the best overall team effort we have given this season.”

The Norse as a team shot 39 percent from behind the arc and held the Royals to 22-78 from the field for 28 percent.

“We shot the ball really well tonight,” Johnson said. “We had the right people taking the right shots and on the flip side our defensive effort was huge. We held Lake Region to under 70 points and they came in averaging 107 points per game and we gave them 22 of their 69 points were from the free throw line so if we tighten things up and don’t foul we hold them below 50 points and that is pretty impressive.”

In the women’s game, Lake Region jumped out to an early 26-22 lead after one quarter of play and led by as much as seven points during the stanza.

“We started off a little slow,” Bay women’s coach James Fassett said. “Our transition defense wasn’t where we wanted it to be and shot selection at times wasn’t what we wanted in the game.”

The Norse trailed 41-38 at the half but came out hot in the third quarter outscoring the Royals 29-19 to take a 67-60 lead. Lauren Zawada led the way for the Norse with 31 points and 13 rebounds.

“Lauren really got it going in the second half,” Fassett said. “She got settleed down and became our main scoring threat in the secon half.”

The teams exchanged the lead back and forth before the Royals were able to secure the win.

“We were able to get a basket everytime we needed one,” Fassett said. “We led by nine in the third quarter but other than that it was a tight game throughout and I was reall happy with the pace and tempo of what we played at.”

The Norse return to action tonight as they travel to Gogebic Community College.