Boys’ Basketball
Susquehanna Valley 56, Norwich 49
CONKLIN – Norwich encountered its kryptonite Friday night: Susquehanna Valley.
The Sabers defeated Norwich for the second time this season, just the Tornado’s third loss overall.
Brendan Normile, an athletic 6-foot-7 junior, scored 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Sabers, who withstood Norwich’s late comeback led by junior guard Kyle Edwards.
“They were really good defensively and their defensive slides (in their zone) were great,” said Norwich coach Tom Collier. “Normile was just tremendous. We threw everything at them, but he’s just so athletic. We had him identified and had a plan, we just couldn’t stop him.”
Leading Norwich 25-22 early in the third quarter, the Sabers’ Josh Swanger canned a three to start a 12-0 run in which the purple-clad Tornado failed to drop in a point for some five minutes. Normile had half-a-dozen points during the breakout lifting the advantage to 37-22 with two minutes left in the quarter.
That’s when Edwards went to work in an incredible barrage of three-point accuracy. Edwards, who was 6-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc in Norwich’s win over Chenango Valley last week. Hit two three-pointers late in the third quarter trimming SV’s lead to 11.
Edwards kept the three balls coming, and Norwich within 52-49 on the NHS junior guard’s sixth three ball over a nine-minute span. Teammate Seth Thomsen contributed a traditional three-point play that preceded Edwards’ last trifecta.
Normile cinched up the Sabers’ victory with a minute to go converting a low-post move that he turned into a three-point play. “Kyle got really hot and put us on his shoulders and tried to bring us back,” Collier said. “It was an incredible effort.”
Norwich had just four players score in the game, and Edwards, Seth Thomsen (12), and Dennis Oralls (9) had 45 of their team’s 49 points. “Their role players outscored our role players,” Collier said. “It was definitely a problem and something we’ll need to address. But you have to give all the credit to Susquehanna Valley. We didn’t play badly, they were just better than us.”
Norwich plays at Johnson City Tuesday.
NHS: Kyle Edwards, 7 3-4-24; Dennis Oralls, 1 6-6-9; Danny Carson, 0; Mike Sutton, 1 2-2-4; Nate Ashton, 0; Grady Thompson, 0; Seth Thomsen, 4 3-5-12; Ian Weaver, 0; Storm Cook, 0; Eric Walling, 0; Grant Brightman, 0; Mike D’Abbraccio, 0. Totals: 13 14-17-49.
SV: Brendan Normile, 10 3-7-23; Austin Simon, 3 2-2-9; Josh Swanger, 3 1-4-8; Trenton Benton, 3 1-4-7; Taylor Deeter, 1 4-5-6; Aaron Cornish, 0 2-4-2; Nick Coddington, 0 1-2-1; Colin Manchester, 0. Totals: 20 14-28-56.
NHS 14 6 8 21–49
SVa. 14 11 14 17–56
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (N) Edwards 7, Oralls, Thomsen, (SV) Simon, Swanger. JV: Norwich won.
Richfield Springs 56, G-MU 55
RICHFIELD SPRINGS – Zach Boss scored all eight of his points in the final minutes, and his two free throws with seven seconds left allowed the host club to defeat G-MU Friday.
Boss hit two three-pointers in the last four minutes to help Richfield Springs erase G-MU’s four-point lead. After a timeout with five seconds left, G-MU’s Eddie Ray Cotton had a three-point look in the corner for the tie. He missed the shot at the buzzer, but was fouled on the play. Cotton made the first and third free throw attempts leaving the Raiders a point short.
“All of my kids went out to (Eddie Ray) to pick him up,” said G-MU coach Bill Hartman. “That was not asked for by me or my assistant coach. The kids read the moment.”
Richfield Springs upped the tempo of the game, and led by seven points in the second half. DeMario Reed brought the Raiders back scoring 17 of his 26 points in the second half.
G-MU plays at Cherry Valley-Springfield tonight.
GMU: Demario Reed, 6 13-17 26, Galen Wind, 2 0-0 4, Greg Delaney, 2 2-2 7, Jason Barrows, 0 0-0 0, Eddie Ray Cotton, 2 2-5 7, Tim French, 3 3-3 9, Ryan West, 0 0-0 0, Austin Burnside, 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 20-27-55.
R.S.: Keegan Wheelock-Tanner, 4 6-6 14, Lucas VanRipper, 2 1-4 5, Joe Kelly, 8 2-6 18, Kyle Richvalsky, 0 0-0 0, Zach Boss 2 2-2 8, Steven Holland, 0 0-0 0, Joeal Gardner, 1 1-3 3, Ben Smith, 3 2-2 8. Totals: 20 14-23-56.
GMU 12 15 11 17–55
RSpr. 14 14 17 11–56
Fouled out: (G) Delaney. Three-point goals: (G) Reed, Delaney, Cotton. (RS) Boss 2. JV: Richfield Springs won.
Otselic Valley 54, Stockbridge Valley 39
SOUTH OTSELIC – An overwhelming defensive effort carried Otselic Valley to a 15-point victory over Stockbridge Valley Friday night.
Mike Larkin had 17 points and Gideon Schena added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Jason Olin added to the defense with nine rebounds and seven of the Vikings' 24 steals.
"We played with a lot of intensity and a lot of heart," said OV coach Dave Loomis. "That carried over to the offensive end."
