Norwich’s past and present collided at the Stop DWI Holiday Classic.
The Purple Tornado ended a nine-year drought between DWI titles Friday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena toppling Chenango Valley in the Regional Division Two championship game, 62-50.
The victory halted a three-game streak of DWI finals defeats for NHS. Norwich junior Kyle Edwards scored 17 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Seth Thomsen added 17 points and nine rebounds in receiving an all-tourney nod, and Dennis Oralls scored 14 points, while also earning all-tournament honors.
Edwards was 3-for-4 from behind the three-point line, and he joined assistant coach Brian Collier as a tournament MVP. Collier led Norwich to its last DWI title in 2002. “Right after the game, Brian was walking with Kyle off the court, and he told him, ‘welcome to the club,’” said Norwich first-year head coach Tom Collier.
Norwich led by four points after one period, and took the lead to as many as 12 in the second quarter. Chenango Valley failed to make much of a dent in the Norwich lead until the early part of the fourth quarter. Norwich committed its tenth foul of the second half early on in the final stanza, and CV’s aggressive play under the basket had it shooting free throws in droves.
Edwards’ third trey of the game after a kickout pass from Thomsen put the Tornado up 45-36 with 6:29 left in the game. CV ensued with five straight free throws, the last two from MIke Fillers trimming the margin to 45-41. With over five minutes left in the game, the Warriors had the momentum, and plenty of time to overtake the Tornado. “Those three guys (Seth, Kyle, and Dennis) really stepped up in the final minutes, and Michael Sutton’s play was huge for us off the bench,” Collier said.
Until the final five minutes, Oralls was more offensive distributor and defender than a scorer. In the waning minutes, Oralls had the ball at the foul line when his team needed to make free throws. Oralls hit two free throws to stem CV’s momentum, and Thomsen followed with a three ball off an Edwards pass to hike the lead back to nine. Following a Zach Collins basket for CV, Sutton sliced through the Warriors defense for a layup returning Norwich’s lead back to nine, 52-43.
Norwich extended its lead from the foul line the rest of the way with Oralls making 10 of 12 free throws in the final quarter. Oralls and the rest of the Norwich team knew Norwich’s history of losses, and that served as some motivation entering the game. “We heard that we hadn’t won here in almost 10 years, but the bigger motivation was that Seth and I were here two years ago when we lost in the finals to Johnson City,” Oralls said. “That was a tough loss, so to come back here and win, it’s a great feeling.”
Edwards was “feeling it” from the opening tip hitting outside shots with Larry Bird-like precision. Edwards had eight of Norwich’s first nine points making three shots that didn’t come close to hitting any rim. Later in the first quarter, Oralls found reserve Mike D’Abbraccio on a layup, Sutton banked in a short jumper, Thomsen converted a layup after a Nate Ashton pass to the middle of the paint, and Oralls drained a 15-foot jumper off a set play to end the quarter and give NHS a 17-13 lead.
After scoring two buckets to end the first turn, Norwich tacked on eight straight points to complete a 12-0 run. Edwards scored off a nifty pick-and-roll with Oralls to end the salvo, and force CV into its second timeout within a two-minute span.
Edwards finished 7-for-11 from the field, and the majority off his shot attempts were from the perimeter. As a team, Norwich shot nearly 50 percent from the field (21-for-44) on a court that has quickly put good shooting teams into a funk. “I think playing on this court actually helped us,” Edwards said of the Arena. “It took a little bit of adjusting, but once we did, we shot it fine. I think the bigger court also played to our advantage. We like to run, and it gives us more room to run up and down the floor.”
