Bay College’s Austin Forbes, a graduate of Gwinn High School, goes up for a reverse layup while being guarded by Northern Michigan University’s Ben Wolf during their exhibition game played at Bay College on Thursday. Looking on for the Wildcats are Reece Castor, right, and AJ Makinen and for the Norse is Cade Contreras, left, a Munising High School graduate. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Austin Hemmingson)

ESCANABA — It wasn’t a win, but the vibes were nothing but positive for the Bay College men’s basketball team after giving Northern Michigan University everything it could handle during the first half of an exhibition game Thursday night on the Norse’s home court.

The Wildcats, who led just 23-15 at halftime, pulled away for a 68-37 win in the second half, but it didn’t come until after a defensive struggle in the first half that was filled with intensity and fireworks.

Neither team scored until NMU’s Xzavier Jones scored on a driving layup just a few seconds short of five minutes into the game. Bay immediately answered on a basket by Christian Alexander, but after the Wildcats scored again on their next possession, neither team added any more points until a pair of free throws by NMU’s Ben Wolf with 12:13 left in the first half.

“I think it was a heck of an effort from us defensively,” Norse coach Matt Johnson said. “This group is a hard-working group and they get after each other in practice.

“I expect us to be pretty good defensively, and I think we showed that, especially early tonight. I think we really made some things difficult for Northern and I was really happy with our effort on the defensive end.”

NMU pulled ahead 16-5 with 6:03 left in the half on a corner triple by Marcus Matelski, but the Norse responded with a 9-4 run capped by a monster jam by the 6-foot-8 Alexander over NMU’s Alec Fruin to pull the Norse within 20-14 with just over a minute left until halftime.

Fruin and new NMU coach Matt Majkrzak each felt Alexander hung over Fruin for an excessive amount of time, which led to some intense arguing with the officials as Alexander got the crowd pumped up.

“To be honest, this isn’t a knock against any of the kids from Northern Michigan, but I thought Christian Alexander was the best player on the floor,” Johnson said. “He shot 60 percent from the floor, he had seven boards, a couple assists, four blocked shots and he had a pretty big dunk in terms of turning the tide and getting some of the momentum in our favor.

“That’s something that Chris brings to the table that most people playing on our level are not going to be able to match.”

A free throw by Ryan Robinette brought the Norse within 20-15 before another corner triple by Matelski put NMU up 23-15 at the break, and the Wildcats rolled in the second half.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but I still think we are a very good shooting team,” Johnson said. “I’m not worried about the offensive end at all.

“We run a motion offense for a reason. I think it gives us the opportunity to get better as the season goes on, and I don’t want us playing our best basketball in October or November. I want to keep getting better on the offensive end, so when it hits February going into March, we’re clicking on all cylinders, and I do think we will get there.”

Wolf led NMU with 16 points and Matelski added 12. Troy Summers grabbed 14 rebounds, and Gladstone graduate Reece Castor scored the final two points of the game from the charity stripe with 58 seconds remaining.

Johnson was happy with the challenge his team was presented.

“We’ve had the opportunity to play some games here the last two weeks, but it’s nothing like playing against a Division II opponent like Northern Michigan,” he said. “We got better tonight. The biggest takeaway for us is that now (our guys) know the intensity level they have to play at every single night they lace up their shoes.”

The Norse begin their regular season next Friday at Grand Rapids Community College, while the Wildcats play their first game that counts on Nov. 9 in Lebanon, Illinois, against Lewis University in the GLIAC-Great Lakes Valley Conference Challenge.