Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Bay College’s Khalid Fleming (1) shoots a layup against Sault College’s Stephen Miller Friday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Bay College men fought off a late Cougars’ attack Friday to move on to the championship game in the Quality Inn & Suites New Year’s Tournament. The Norse held off Sault, Ont. College 81-77 in Escanaba.

“All-in-all, I thought we did some really good things,” Norse coach Matt Johnson said. “We struggled at times, especially on the defensive end, but we battled enough and worked hard enough to grit it out and get one against a very good team. The Sault team battled. We were fortunate to walk out of the gym with a win.”

With six minutes left, the Norse (9-6) led the Cougars 74-63. However, the next two minutes were barren for the Norse as Sault added eight points to reduce its deficit to 74-71.

“We got a little hot, and it got us back into the game a little bit,” Sault coach Patrick Murray said. “Unfortunately, we missed a couple key ones toward the end there.”

After Bay’s Matt Wagner hit 1-of-2 free throws, the Cougars’ Simon Wal, who finished with 26 points and five treys, sunk one from outside while being fouled. Wal added another point from the line to tie the game 75-75 with 2:33 remaining.

Twenty seconds later, Sault’s Stephen Miller capitalized on a breakaway and gave it its first lead since the early minutes of the game.

However, Wagner came in clutch, giving the Cougars a dose of their own medicine from outside and taking back the lead, 78-77.

A missed shot from Wal gave the Norse an opportunity and Wagner capitalized again, sinking a contested jumper to push their lead to 80-77 with a minute left.

After he missed the free throw, Wagner stifled any Cougars’ momentum with an offensive rebound on his own miss.

“I think Matt Wagner obviously played very well for us,” Johnson said. “He hit some big shots for us and had a huge play with his offensive rebound on the missed free throw down the stretch.”

The Cougars got into some foul trouble, and Bay’s Christian Alexander sealed the game from the charity stripe in the final seconds.

“I thought we played well,” Murray said. “We got into some foul trouble, and that hurt us. We gave up a couple (offensive)-board chances that gave them some second and third opportunities.”

Wal led the Cougars with 26 points and five triples. Anthony Hall followed with 14, and Kevon Clark notched 12. Miller finished with 10.

The Norse were led by Wagner with 24 points and four treys. Tristan Masuga collected 18.

The Bay College women’s basketball team sprinted ahead early to defeat the Sault 92-37 in the previous game.

The Norse (10-5) built up a substantial lead early in the first quarter, starting the game on a 13-0 run in the first six minutes.

The Norse press showed its worth as they came up with 16 steals in the game.

The Cougars scored solely with free throws, making 3-of-4 to trail 25-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“I thought our halfcourt defense did some really nice things — we held them to 28% shooting,” Norse coach Rob Robinson said. “We got to play everyone, and everyone was able to score — so that was good. We’ve got a tough team tomorrow.”

The Cougars were led by Skylar Toms with 16 points and four triples.

Haley Trudell led the Norse with 18 points and four triples. Holly Wardynski followed with 17 points and five steals, while Trish McGuire notched 13 with three treys.

The Norse men play Western Tech in the championship game at 5 p.m. today at Bay College, while the women play Western Tech in their championship round at 3 p.m. Gogebic Community College and the Sault face off in the consolation round at 11 a.m. for the women and 1 p.m. for the men.

Men

Sault College 45 32 — 77

Bay College 48 33 — 81

Bay College — Wagner 24, Masuga 18, Dobessi 8, Robinette 8, Alexander 7, Mattson 6, Fleming 4, Contreras 3, Yohe 3. FT: 12-25; F: 12; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Wagner 4, Robinette 2, Masuga 2, Contreras 1.

Women

Sault College 3 12 10 12 — 37

Bay College 25 16 21 30 — 92

Sault College — Toms 16, Gorman 7, Sabourin 6, Yunchuk 4, McLead 2, Elliot 2. FT: 8-10; F: 14; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Toms 4, Gorman 1.

Bay College — Trudell 18, Wardynski 17, McGuire 13, Hardwick 9, Olsen 7, Wickman 6, K. Ackerman 5, Mannor 5, Molina 4, Bloniarz 4, Dalgord 3, M. Ackerman 1. FT: 13-15; F: 10; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Trudell 4, McGuire 3, Wardynski 1, Dalgord 1, Wickman 1, K. Ackerman 1, Mannor 1, Olsen 1.