BINGHAMTON – Corey Dietrich and Josh Borfitz hit the floor diving for a loose ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock. It was that type of hustle – from the opening tap to the final horn – that gave Norwich the slimmest edge over previously-unbeaten Vestal Sunday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
With its unblemished mark still intact, the Tornado progressed to the Regional Division One finals at the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic nipping the Golden Bears, 53-52. NHS meets Seton Catholic Central Tuesday evening for the title at 7:30 p.m. “We definitely have not faced anyone with the size of Vestal,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott, whose club is off to an 8-0 start. “We battled hard and I’m really proud of our guys. It’s a huge win and we’re very excited about it.”
Norwich struggled with its shooting in the first half making six of 28 attempts. It trailed by eight early in the second quarter, yet still managed to close the first-half deficit to 25-22. Josh Borfitz scored seven in the second quarter – three coming on one of his five three balls. Still, Borfitz misfired from long range more often than not. His short-term memory on those misfires; however, keyed a second-half rally.
“Offensively, we did not have a good rhythm in the first half, and Josh missed some shots he normally makes,” Abbott said. “I told him to hang with it and keep shooting. Shooters have to keep shooting.”
Borfitz was one cog in Norwich’s third-quarter surge in which the offense clicked and defense tightened its vise on a potentially potent Vestal attack.
Vaughn Labor, the Tornado’s top inside scorer, scored six points in the third quarter. David Carson, Labor’s 6-foot-5 complement, outhustled his opposition in transition connecting on a pair of layups, and Borfitz banged home two three balls over the final 1:18 of the third stanza. Running the show – and scoring nary a point – was senior Timmy Clark, who assisted on five of Norwich’s baskets.
Lost in the mix was Norwich limiting Vestal to just two free throws over the final 3:25 to flip a 30-22 deficit early in the period into a 40-36 advantage with eight minutes to play.
“A big key for us was David’s defense on Cameron (Boyden),” Abbott said of the 6-foot-7 Golden Bears big man. “Cameron is a man, and David battled him the whole way. That basically allowed us to play 4-on-4.
Carson took a perfect back-door pass from Labor for the opening basket of the third quarter, and moments later, Borfitz drained his fifth trey of the game upping the lead to 46-37. Carson made good on two free throws with 5:11 remaining giving Norwich its biggest lead, 48-38. “David was beating their bigs down the floor, and his three or four transition baskets were huge,” Abbott said. “Vestal, like the champions they are, battled us hard to the end.”
