Evening Sun Report
Boys’ Basketball
Johnson City 75, Norwich 48
NORWICH – Norwich devised plan after plan to defeat Johnson City, and every time, the Wildcats had a new way to beat the Tornado.
Norwich’s season ended Saturday night at home when JC picked up their third win over the Tornado in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Norwich finished the season with a 15-4 record losing three of four times to their nemesis to the south. “We have nothing to hang our heads about,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “Our four losses (one to Seton Catholic as well) came to teams who have a great chance at winning sectional championships.”
As it did in the most recent meeting, Norwich stayed tight with Johnson City for a good portion of the opening quarter. Jacob Kelly’s two free throws put Norwich in front 9-8. Johnson ended the quarter on a 13-0 run, seven of those points coming from Grant Vicks, who had 10 of his 15 points in the opening stanza. Vicks had all of his points by halftime, and the Wildcats maintained a 34-22 halftime lead despite top scoring guard Ian Pettiford’s spot on the bench due to foul trouble.
“That just shows the depth that Johnson City has offensively,” Abbott said. “Vicks had 15 points in this game, and just a total of six in the previous three meetings.”
While Vicks was scoreless the rest of the way, he had other teammates – Troy Robinson and Pettiford – pick up the slack. Robinson had the first seven points of the third quarter and 10 in the eight-minute period on his way to a 21-point night. Pettiford, held in check most of the game, poured in 13 points in the last quarter to also finish with 21 points.
Rashawn Powell, who scored 39 combined points in the previous two JC wins over Norwich, scored just eight in the two clubs’ final meeting. “We really had ideas we thought would work against them,” Abbott said. “But guys made plays we weren’t counting on. They are very, very good.”
Josh Favaloro was the lone Tornado player in double figures finishing with 10 points, and Jon Foulds added nine. “It’s been a heck of a three years for us,” Abbott said, noting his club has gone 54-12 in that span. “We have had to replace a lot of quality players, but our program speaks for itself, and the younger players see the success we’ve had, and the amount of time and energy it takes to achieve that. They also want to be a part of that.
“This group had worked very hard and they are outstanding young men. They have been a real pleasure to work with, and they certainly have a lot to be proud of. I know I am proud of them.”
Johnson City: Macon, 0 0-0 0, Arvantakis, 0 0-0 0, Safavi, 1 0-0 3, Vicks, 6 0-0 15, Robinson, 10 0-0 21, Washington 1 0-0 3, Pettiford, 8 3-7 21, Ehrets, 1 0-0 2, Powell 1 6-6 8, Jones, 1 0-0 2 Totals: 29 9-13 75
Norwich: Edwards, 0 0-0 0, Ashton 0 0-0 0, Oralls, 3 0-0 7, Favaloro, 4 0-0 10, Kelly, 2 2-2 7, Somich, 3 0-0 8, Weaver, 1 0-0 2, Thompson, 0 0-0 0, Thomsen, 1 2-2 4, Foulds, 3 0-0 9, Wheeler, 0 0-0 0, Walling, 0 0-0 0, Brightman, 0 0-0 0, Martinson, 0 1-2 1 Totals: 17 5-6 48.
Score by quarters
J.C. 21 13 18 23–75
NHS 9 13 5 21–48
Team fouls: (N) 9, (JC) 10. Three-point goals: (JC) Vicks 3, Pettiford 2, Robinson 1, Safavi 1, Washington1. (N) Foulds 3, Favaloro 2, Somich 2, Kelly 1, Oralls 1. Officials: S. Berg, Linehan.
Edmeston 54, G-MU 37
EDMESTON – Edmeston jumped on G-MU early building a 17-point halftime lead en route to a Section IV Class D tournament victory Saturday.
It was the third meeting between the two Tri-Valley League foes, and the first one that did not go down to the wire. “We just got steamrolled. Edmeston came out ready to play,” said G-MU coach Bill Hartman “We wanted to take the ball to their bigs and get to the foul line. What we did was pass it around and settle for jump shots. We couldn’t throw it in the ocean in the first half.”
Edmeston’s balanced offensive attack led it to a 26-9 halftime lead. The Panthers had a similar lead over G-MU in the clubs’ most recent meeting, a lead the Raiders erased to force overtime.
Over the final two periods, G-MU’s offensive execution was better, but the Raiders did not come closer than 13 points. “We did a much better job offensively in the second half, we just couldn’t get the defensive stops when we had to have them,” Hartman said.
Justin Kucera scored 13 for Edmeston and Derek Schoellig netted 12.
DeMario Reed scored 13 and senior Ian Edwards had 11 for the Raiders, who finished 14-6. “Nobody even mentioned us (in the league) at the start of the year,” Hartman said. “When the sting of the loss goes away, we can look back on the season and see that we had a good year.”
G-MU: DeMario Reed, 5 2-3-13; Kevin Davis, 0; Greg Delaney, 1 0-0-3; Jon Scofield, 0 3-6-3; Eddie Ray Cotton, 1 3-3-5; Ian Edwards, 3 4-6-11; Chris Steckline, 0; Nate Beach, 0; Andrew Delmar, 1 0-0-2; Nick Sebeck, 0. Totals: 11 12-18-37.
Edmeston: Logan Vibbard, 0; Blake Vibbard, 3 2-2-9, Vic. Fuglsang, 0; Derek Schoellig, 6 0-0-12, Dan Schoellig, 0, Nick DeGristina , 0, Thomas Parker, 1 0-0-3, Zak Ruffles, 4 0-0-8, Charlie D'Angelo, 3 1-2-7, Justin Kucera, 6 1-2-13, Brandon Fallon, 1 0-0-2; Clayton Hawes, 0; Tyler Hall, 0. Totals: 24 4-6-54.
Edm. 11 15 12 16–54
GMU 2 7 13 15–37
Three-point goals: (E) Blake Vibbard, Thomas Parker. (G) Reed, Delaney, Edwards. Officials: Brady, R. Mudge
Girls’ Basketball
Norwich 49, Owego 44
NORWICH – Norwich coach described the third contest with Owego this season as “another war.”
Norwich scrapped back into a game it was poised to lose erasing a seven-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to advance to the Section IV Class A finals Thursday night against Maine-Endwell.
“We hadn’t put any points on the board in six or seven minutes,” said Norwich coach Josh Bennett. “We made some defensive stops and had some really clutch plays from Molly (DeMellier) and Bryn (Loomis).”
DeMellier drained a three from the right corner to end Norwich’s scoring drought and Loomis added a three from the right wing closing the deficit to one. DeMellier had a steal on the next possession, and she pulled up from about 12 feet to hit the go-ahead jumper. Down the stretch, Norwich senior Hannah Runyon went 9-for-10 from the foul line – the only miss her last attempt to hold off the Indians.
“They had a great game plan defensively against us, but we were able to prepare for everything they threw at us,” Bennett said. “We weren’t worried about them doing something we hadn’t seen. We just made some adjustments at halftime, and we were finally able to put some points on the board.”
Runyon had 18 points for the Tornado (15-4), and Loomis, despite being blanketed all game by the Indians’ Sam Watson, finished with 10.
“Both teams were just so familiar with each other, and it came down to who played better,” Bennett said. “We were able to make more plays at the end of the game than they did.”
Norwich will play the Spartans at 6 p.m. at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The Tornado are looking for their third overall Section IV title and first since the 2005-2006 season.
Owego: Caitlin Simpson, 1 0-0-2; Alaina Jenkins, 0; Courtney Malia, 3 0-2-7; Olivia Bishop, 0 4-4-4; Brittany Rando, 4 7-8-17; Rachel Merrill, 4 6-10-14; Bridget Quaranta, 0; Sam Watson, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 12 17-24-44.
