Boys’ Basketball
NORWICH – David needed one more stone for his slingshot to slay Goliath.
Susquehanna Valley survived Norwich’s late rally, and held on for a 54-53 victory over the Purple Tornado Wednesday night in each club’s Southern Tier Athletic Conference Central Division opener.
The Sabers held a vast size advantage over Norwich at nearly every position, and used that edge to slowly gain control of the game in the second half. The Sabers put together a 10-2 run early in the fourth quarter to break away from a 40-40 tie after three periods.
Predictably, SV went to 6-foot-7 senior forward Brendon Normile whenever possible. When Normile wasn’t available, 6-foot-6 senior Trenton Benton controlled the interior. Normile had six points during the Sabers’ pivotal fourth-quarter spurt, and a game-high 19 points.
“They have a really good team, and they are much bigger than us,” said Norwich coach Tom Collier. “But we battled all the way, and it came down to one shot.”
SV seemed to have control of the game when Josh Swanger intercepted a crosscourt pass from Norwich, and took the ball the distance for a 53-47 lead with 1:11 to play. From there, Norwich was all heart and guts in scraping back into the contest.
Kyle Edwards drew a foul on a drive to the basket, and drained both freebies to close the deficit to 53-49. Following an SV turnover – one of 23 forced by the hustling Tornado – Seth Thomsen’s driving baseline floater from five feet touched down at the bottom of the net trimming the SV lead to 53-51 with 50 seconds left.
Susquehanna Valley’s final point – and decisive one as well – was recorded after Austin Simon made one of two free throws with 33 seconds remaining.
Edwards, with a full head of steam, scored on another driving basket with 25 seconds left. After which, Norwich’s Collier ran toward the referee on the near baseline asking for a timeout. Collier implored his team to look for the steal first before fouling a Sabers player.
A deflection by Mike Sutton and Edwards led to an NHS steal, and one last possession for the victory. Following a timeout, Susquehanna Valley’s Colin Manchester deflected a ball into the backcourt. With eight seconds left, Edwards scrambled for the loose ball, and drove left before dishing to Dennis Oralls. Oralls’ contested three-point shot rolled around the rim and out. Normile, skying high above the other nine players on the floor, secured the rebound – and the SV victory. “I loved the way we competed,” Collier said. “We’ll win a lot of games playing that hard.”
Norwich led 13-7 at the first turn. The up-tempo play favored the Tornado, who had seven points from Thomsen and four from Oralls. Thomsen led Norwich with 17 points, Edwards tickled twine for 15, and Oralls bucketed nine.
Norwich (2-1) is idle until a week from Friday when it entertains Johnson City.
JV notes: Norwich’s JV team improved to 3-0 defeating Sus Valley, 61-50. Alexander Stewart led NHS with 19 points, Mike Oralls tacked on 11, and Matthew Burke scored 10.
SV: Vince LaMantia, dnp; Colin Manchester, 1 0-0-2; Taylor Deeter, 1 0-0-2; Jason Fiorentino, dnp; Josh Swanger, 3 1-2-7; Austin Simon, 5 3-4-16; Trenton Benton, 3 3-7-9; Brendon Normile, 9 1-6-19; Nick Coddington, dnp; Aaron Cornish, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 22 8-21-54.
Norwich: Kyle Edwards, 5 2-2-15; Dennis Oralls, 4 0-1-9; Michael Sutton, 0 0-0-0; Danny Carson, 1 0-0-2; Nate Ashton, dnp; Robbie Wheeler, dnp; Ian Collins, dnp; Grady Thompson, dnp; Seth Thomsen, 6 5-5-17; Ian Weaver, 0 0-0-0; Eric Walling, 1 0-0-3; Storm Cook, 1 0-0-2; Grant Brightman, 1 1-2-3; Michael D’Abbraccio, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 20 8-10-53.
SVa 7 12 21 19–54
NHS 13 9 18 13–53
Fouled out: none. Team fouls: (SV) 13, (N) 22. Three-point goals: (N) Edwards 3, Oralls, Walling, (SV) Simon 2. JV: Norwich won 61-50. Officials: B. Berg, S. Berg.
Wrestling
