Boys’ Basketball

Norwich 58, Unatego 31

NEW BERLIN – While the UV Holiday Tournament has not always brought the Purple Tornado good tidings and cheer, Thursday night was a good start toward rectifying those past disappointments after a thoroughly convincing win over Unatego.

The Spartans, who came in with just one defeat, were never in the game after the first period, and did not reach the 30-point mark until the final minute of the game. It was the fourth time this season Norwich (7-2) has held an opponent under 40 points, and the victory extended its winning streak to six games. “We definitely played strong defense tonight,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “We got to the shooters we needed to get to, we limited second shots, and we forced them into some tough shots. That aspect of the game we were very strong.”

Norwich led 17-9 after a period as Patrick Coates scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the opening stanza. Only a three ball by Unatego’s Alex Hendrickson as the last points of the stanza kept the margin under double digits.

That small moral victory quickly moved by the wayside when Norwich held the Spartans to just one field goal the entire second quarter, and just one point over the final six minutes of the half to extend an eight-point lead to 21 at halftime.

The lead was as big as 30 points in the second half, and if not for Kyle Falkenmeyer’s three ball for Unatego with 30 seconds left, the Spartans would not have reached the 30-point mark. “We didn’t score as many points, but I thought we did a better job on offense in the second half,” Abbott said. “We made the extra pass, we didn’t settle for jump shots.

“The big thing, though, is winning and getting to the championship game. We were able to do that.”

Vaughn Labor contributed 13 points for Norwich, who are now 5-0 on the road this season.

Norwich: Tim Clark, 3 1-1-8; Jeff Handy, 0; Patrick Coates, 7 3-4-18; Corey Dietrich, 1 0-0-2; Nate Foote, 1 0-0-2; Josh Borfitz, 1 2-2-4; Vaughn Labor, 4 5-6-13; Tyler Saroka, 1 0-0-2; David Carson, 1 1-2-3; Brian Wightman, 1 0-2-2; Justin Ballin, 1 0-0-2; Cory Law, 0; Craig Berg, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 22 12-17-58.

Unatego: Erik Barber, 0, Kyle Falkenmeyer, 3 0-1-7, Jeff Fazio, 1 0-0-2, Will May, 0 2-4-2, Alex Hendrickson, 1 1-2-4, Chet Davis, 0, Kyle Ray, 6 4-6-16, Mike Simonds, 0; Brown, 0; Travis Simmons, 0; Phil Schaffer, 0. Totals: 11 7-13-31.

NHS 17 16 19 11–58

Unat. 9 3 10 9–31

Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (N) Clark, Coates, (U) Falkenmeyer, Hendrickson. Officials: Climenhaga, Eichler.

Unadilla Valley 54, Sherburne-Earlville 51

NEW BERLIN – Sherburne-Earlville buried the Storm in a deep hole early, but the host club was able to climb out by the fourth quarter to move into the finals of its home tournament in Thursday’s contest.

Paul Smith ignited a fourth-quarter UV charge hitting two three-pointers to erase S-E’s five-point lead and score 10 of his 12 points. Garrett Porack banked in a three-pointer for S-E closing the gap to two points, and after the Storm’s Mason Wyman canned 1-of-2 foul shots, the Marauders turned the ball over on their last possession.

“I told the team we can’t keep digging holes because we won’t be able to get out of them against the really good teams,” said UV coach Matt Osborne. “Sherburne-Earlville played really well tonight. We turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter, and they finally started missing some shots.”

Brett Nelson and Porack led S-E with 15 points, and Ken Knickerbocker hit a trio of three balls in the first half scoring nine points to give his club the early lead.

The Marauders face Unatego at 4:30 p.m. tonight in the consolation game, while UV hosts Norwich at 7:45 p.m.

UV: Paul Smith, 5 0-3-12; Mason Wyman, 2 5-7-10; Raffi Perry, 5 1-1-12; Darin Garcia, 4 2-3-10; Matt Harrington, 1 0-0-2; Jimmy Jachim, 1 0-0-3; Josh Thomsen, 2 1-2-5 . Totals: 20 9-16-54.

S-E: Brett Nelson, 6 3-4-15; Ken Knickerbocker, 3 0-0-9; Sean Boise, 3 0-0-8; Garrett Porack, 6 1-2-15; Dan Leet, 0; Ethan Sconzo, 2 0-0-4. Totals: 21 3-5-51.

S-E 18 4 16 13–51

UVa. 6 13 14 21–54

Fouled out: (SE) Porack. Three-point goals: (SE) Knickerbocker 3, Boise 2, Porack 2, (UV) Smith 2, Perry, Wyman, Jachim. JV: UV beat S-E 57-49, officials: Grady, Palmer.

Girls’ Basketball

Unadilla Valley Tournament

Unadilla Valley 49, Harpursville 42

S-E 48, South Kortright 42

NEW BERLIN – Unadilla Valley avenged an 18-point season-opening loss to the Hornets canning its free throws late in the game, while also getting a career-high 23 points from Katelyn Ross.

Harpursville erased an eight-point halftime deficit getting two three balls from Alycia Kimmel, and a three foul shots from Hannah Kimmel after the latter Kimmel was fouled on a three-point attempt.

UV’s Sarah Talbot and Hannah Johnson scored buckets early in the fourth quarter for the lead, and the Storm made 10-of-12 free throws in the last quarter. “Once we got them in the one-in-one, we did a good job taking the ball to the basket and drawing fouls,” said UV coach Brandi Backus. “After the B-G loss we were a little frustrated, but we’re excited about this win.”

Johnson added 10 points for the Storm, who moved to 4-4 on the season.