BINGHAMTON – It was a far cry from Norwich’s best game on offense, but when you give up just 28 points, you have to like your chances of winning.
“Yeah, we didn’t have the greatest game on offense, but defense wins championships, and you saw that tonight,” said Norwich coach Tom Collier.
The Purple Tornado won their third straight Section IV title Saturday night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, and fourth in six years topping Oneonta for the third time this season, 40-28.
Norwich held Oneonta to 26 percent shooting (11-for-42), and blunted the emotion of a club that was missing its longtime head coach, Jerry Mackey, and leading scorer, Jordan Gutierrez. Mackey was diagnosed last week with multiple sclerosis, and he was not on the Oneonta bench the past two games.
“I can’t say enough about how inspired Oneonta played against us,” Collier said. “Look at the final score. That’s the closest anyone has been to us. We’ll celebrate this win, but our thoughts and prayers are with Jerry. He’s a good friend of mine, and as good a coach as he is, he’s an even better person who would help us in a heartbeat.”
As has been Norwich’s M.O. since game one, it dominated the offensive and defensive boards. While Norwich struggled through 16-for-54 shooting (30 percent), it often extended possessions with offensive boards. Senior Storm Cook had 14 rebounds to go with his nine points and four blocked shots, and was a key component in Norwich establishing a six-point halftime lead. Cook had a surprising revelation when addressing his ability to snag offensive rebounds
“Teams don’t box me out,” Cook said after yet another stat-filled performance.
With Norwich’s front line of defenders – Zan Stewart, Mike Sutton, Carlos Ithier, and Matt Burke – proving a difficult riddle to solve in their own right, Cook has served as the ultimate back-line equalizer, something that was missing from Norwich’s previous two title runs.
“Storm isn’t just a rebounder and shot blocker, he’s a shot changer,” Collier said. “He’s a presence in the paint, and that helps our defense a lot. And on offense, he is a great spot-up shooter and our leading percentage shooter.”
Norwich last appeared on the Arena floor in the Stop-DWI championship game. In that clash, the unbeaten Tornado (20-0) scored their previous low point total of the season – 48 points –as the rims were stubborn in permitting passage through the net. On this evening, there were few glimpses of the typical NHS offense, one that averaged just south of 70 points through the first 19 games.
Of note, Sutton finished a layup on Norwich’s patented opening-tip play, Stewart buried a three – Norwich’s only three-spot of the game – Carlos Ithier had a driving layup, and Mike Oralls notched a steal out of Norwich’s press that he dumped in for an easy two a Norwich raced to an early seven-point lead.
Points came grudgingly, though, the rest of the first quarter as Oneonta crawled back to within 11-10. Albert Odero scored on a spinning layup, and senior Paul Bischoff finished an old-school three-point play.
From there, Norwich had its most sustained run of offensive success amassing a baker’s dozen worth of unanswered points to open its biggest advantage, 24-10
Norwich ended the first quarter on a foul line jumper from reserve Colin Stewart, and Stewart’s first cousin, Zan Stewart finished a layup off a dish from Sutton.
Norwich padded the advantage, while holding Oneonta off the board for nearly four minutes of the second quarter. Sutton lofted an inside shot that was swatted away just above the rim by Odero resulting in a goaltending call. Cook then went on his own seven-point salvo spotting up for two wide-open baseline jumpers courtesy of Sutton and Oralls, then Cook reached high for an offensive rebound, and was fouled on the layup. Cook finished the three-point play as Norwich was rolling.
