VESTAL – For the first time all season, Norwich’s lack of size was an impediment to its success.
Vertically challenged at nearly every position, the Purple Tornado were denied their first STAC championship in 19 years losing to Maine-Endwell, 51-46, at Binghamton University’s Events Center Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans extended possessions with numerous offensive boards, and on the defensive end officially had eight blocked shots. Unofficially, perhaps twice as many Norwich shots were altered or changed.
“Their height was probably our biggest concern coming into the game,” said Norwich coach Tom Collier.
Collier’s concern was well-founded. The Spartans started 6-foot-7 senior forward Chris Heimes, and he was book-ended by athletic 6-foot-5 juniors Kyle Gallagher and Jake Sinicki. “As a team, they just killed us on the boards,” Collier said. “I don’t know what the final rebound numbers were, but I bet they were double what we had.”
As bad as the rebounding was for Norwich, it still nearly pulled out the game. Trailing by six midway through the fourth quarter, Norwich closed to within 47-46 with Mike Sutton scoring five straight points. Sutton’s two free throws with 1:20 left capped the mini rally, and an ill-advised three by Gallagher – one of his few miscues on the night – gave Norwich the ball with just over a minute to play.
Coming out of a timeout, Norwich senior Kyle Edwards worked off a pair of screens for an open three attempt that hit the backboard and bounded off the rim. “We had a nice look there, and it just didn’t go in,” Collier said
Following a pair of Gallagher free throws that upped the M-E lead to three, Norwich had one final chance to tie, but turned in over on a crosscourt pass. The Spartans were shaky from the line in the last half a minute, but it didn’t matter. An offensive rebound off a missed free throw helped run out the clock.
“I thought we played extremely hard like we always do,” Collier said. “I also thought we did pretty well defensively except for the rebounding. We also gave up a couple of easy baskets where they out-executed us, but with a minute to go, we had a chance to win.”
Norwich brought a nine-game winning streak into the contest, and if the first minute was any indication, number 10 was looking pretty good. The Spartans turned it over twice leading to baskets by Edwards and Mike Oralls to cap a 6-0 run. The Spartans regrouped to take a 14-13 lead at the end of one, and maintained the advantage until the third quarter.
