NORWICH – The fourth quarter was a prototypical offensive performance for Norwich Tuesday night against Maine-Endwell. Every player used his dribble to create offensive opportunities, every player found the scoring column, and as it turned out, every one of those points scored were needed.
The Tornado, second-place for most of this season in the STAC Central Division, moved into a tie for first after dealing the Spartans their first league loss of the season, 55-53, before a full house at Jack Jones Gymnasium.
The only remaining business on Norwich’s league schedule is a Friday date at Owego. A victory there, and NHS will likely meet M-E for a third time this season. The Spartans, themselves, need to defeat Oneonta next week to earn their share of the division championship.
“The effort and intensity that went into this game was just phenomenal from both sides,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott.
Norwich seemed to be in control when it took a 52-43 lead with 2:17 left in the fourth after a pair of Derek Hughes free throws. Hughes’ charity tosses were a direct result of his own defensive wizardry on the previous sequence. After a Norwich turnover, Hughes raced down the floor to squelch a sure-fire M-E fast break with a steal.
John Connolly, who scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime, put back a basket after a miss, and then drained a long-range three with 1:11 left closing the gap to 52-48. Another Connolly bucket after an NHS turnover made it a two-point game.
Richie Bonney grabbed an offensive rebound after an Andrew Austin missed free throw on Norwich’s next possession, and made two free throws of his own upping the margin to four. M-E’s Max Sinicki hit a three with eight seconds left, but Norwich keenly waited four seconds on the ensuing inbounds play before calling a timeout. Bonney was quickly fouled, and he hit a single free throw for the final margin. The NHS senior, who finished with a game-high 24 points, missed his second free throw, but knocked the loose rebound away as time expired.
“We were able to make a lot of big plays down the stretch,” Abbott said. “All five of our guys did something good in the fourth quarter, and you’ve got to love that.”
Norwich matched M-E point for point in the fourth, who had managed to find the right magic to pull out multiple close league games this season. Early in the fourth, it was senior Andrew Austin who drilled clutch shots for NHS. Austin made a three-pointer off a Hughes pass to start the fourth, drove for a layup on the next possession, and hit a spot-up baseline 15-footer with 4:01 to play.
