NORWICH – Norwich has just one loss to a Class B school over the past two years, and after Friday night’s victory over Whitney Point, the Purple Tornado are one victory away from possibly avenging that lone blemish.
Norwich junior Zan Stewart scored a career-high 28 points – the highest individual scoring total for a NHS player this season – leading unbeaten NHS (19-0) into the Section IV Class B finals in a 78-57 triumph over the Golden Eagles.
Next up is Oneonta Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Arena. Oneonta advanced to the title game beating Susquehanna Valley, 60-49. As a consequence of Norwich’s latest impressive win, it is now in position to win a third straight Section IV title, something no Norwich basketball team has ever done.
“Well, we’ll be in familiar surroundings (at the Broome County Arena),” Collier said. “We hope to end up on top. Oneonta is a great team with a great coach. We know it will be a great challenge.”
Collier is never one to overstate his team’s accomplishments, instead, erring on the side of humility along with deference to his opponent. Even he was thoroughly impressed with his club’s first-half performance in which the Purple Tornado knocked down nine three-pointers and put a season-high 50 points on the scoreboard.
“We’re playing pretty good on offense,” Collier said, a downright effusive statement compared to his usual rhetoric. “Offensively, we’re getting into our groove, and it’s a good time for that, don’t you think?”
Whitney Point’s defense was dismantled early and often as the Purple Tornado unloaded a barrage of inside and outside shots that led to a 29-10 first-quarter lead.
Whitney Point’s Brady Harrington made one of two free throws 17 seconds into the game that tied it at 1-1. From there, Norwich rattled off 10 straight points in one minute and 50 seconds. Mike Sutton hit a spot-up three off a pass from Matt Burke, and Sutton returned the favor feeding Burke for a layup. Storm Cook hit a corner three, then Cook downed two free throws to extend the lead to 10 points.
After Whitney Point’s Gabe Shrauger answered for his club, Norwich responded with a trio of threes from Stewart, Sutton, and Cook. Later in the quarter, reserve Carlos Ithier hit a three and a deuce to end the prolific opening stanza. The rout was on, and it was just a matter of how many points Norwich would score, and how many points would separate the two clubs at the final buzzer.
Cook scored all 17 of his points in the first half, and Stewart? He was just warming up after a 13-point opening half. Norwich’s offense as a whole slowed down over the final two quarters, but Stewart’s scoring did not.
Stewart hit back-to-back threes in the early part of the fourth quarter that hiked the NHS advantage to 69-44. “Zan is really stroking the ball right now, and he’s playing better and better each week,” Collier said. “He started slow last year, then he got hot at the end of the season. He’s now reaching his peak efficiency.”
Whitney Point never quite went away after falling behind early. Juniors Zach Marsh and Shrauger had 17 points apiece in the loss, and each player will return next season along with most of the Golden Eagles roster. “That’s a great ballclub, and people don’t realize that they were ranked among the top 20 in the state most of the season,” Collier said. “We wanted to come out and assert our dominance, and we had a great first half.”
Sutton finished with 12 points and nine assists in the victory, and Ithier had 10 off the bench.
Norwich meets Oneonta for the third time this season with the winner of that game squaring off against either Westhill or Utica Notre Dame. Westhill beat Norwich last year by one point in the state regional finals. “We’ve won 19 games in a row, and we’ve won some games where we didn’t play really well,” Collier said. “We’re playing pretty well now, but we still have some things we need to tighten up.”
WP: Josh Dean, 0; Jared Bieber, 2 0-0-5; Donovan Sturdevant, 3 5-7-11; Brady Harrington, 0 3-6-3; Robert Stevens, 1 0-0-2; Connor Kallfeltz, 0; John Winters, 0; Zachary Marsh, 7 0-1-17; Sean Kelly, 1 0-0-2; Gabe Shrauger, 7 3-6-17. Totals: 21 11-20-57.
Norwich: Brendon Budd, 0; Mike Oralls, 2 0-0-4; Mike Sutton, 4 2-4-12; Chris Trevisani, 0 2-2-2; Carlos Ithier, 4 1-2-10; Colin Stewart, 1 1-2-3; Zan Stewart, 8 6-7-28; Matt Craig, 0; Matt Burke, 1 0-0-2; Storm Cook, 6 2-3-17; Jamison Luke, 0. Totals: 26 14-20-78.
WPt 10 16 15 16-57
Nor. 29 21 13 15-78
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (WP) Bieber, Marsh 3. (N) Z. Stewart 6, Cook 3, Sutton 2, Ithier. Officials: Coleman, Vinsevich.
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Boys’ Basketball Playoffs
Utica Notre Dame 64, Sherburne-Earlville 56
SYRACUSE – In the end, Sherburne-Earlville could not catch the speedy Jugglers.
UND outscored the Marauders 10-2 over the final 2 ½ minutes to advance to the Section III Class B finals against Westhill.
The Marauders’ Austin Jasper made two free throws with 2:36 left that knotted the game at 54. From there, S-E was limited to a pair of free throws.
“We were content to play halfcourt defense the whole game, but when they got up three, we picked up full court, and their quickness really hurt us,” said S-E coach Kevin Vibbard.
Jerome Brabham had two threes in the fourth for UND, and Joe Sullivan had three buckets in a 20-10 final quarter.
