By Patrick Newell

Sun Sports Editor

pnewell@evesun.com

BINGHAMTON - In, and then out.

With Norwich’s season hanging in the balance, the final shot attempt of a heretofore unblemished season rattled off both sides of the rim and into a sea of hands as time expired.

And with that, the Purple Tornado’s best season in 20 years came to a close Saturday afternoon at Binghamton University’s Events Center.

Westhill, the state’s number one ranked Class B team and conquerors of NHS a season ago – and nearly a year to the day at that – advanced to a second straight final four edging Norwich, 56-53, in overtime.

The Warriors, now perfect through 23 contests, celebrated at midcourt in what was likely their most difficult test of the season.

“It was everything I expected, and more,” said Westhill coach Kevin King after the game, who guided his club to a Class B state title in 2010. “You want to play teams like Norwich. Those are great players over there and great kids. Even if we lost, these are the types of games you want to play…we got a little lucky at the end.”

Westhill led by six in the first 3 ½ minutes of the game, but found itself on the short side of the scoreboard after the first, second, and third quarters. A spectacular fourth-quarter offensive display by junior guard Jordan Roland helped send the game into overtime, and once in the extra period, the Warriors were one missed free throw away from a perfect quarter.

Westhill made all four of its shot attempts during bonus time, and three of four free throws. Yet, Norwich was still in position to extend the game.

Norwich senior guard Mike Sutton, who finished with 28 points, drove for an uncontested layup to draw his team to 54-53 with 10.3 seconds left in overtime. Before Westhill could inbound the ball, Warriors sophomore Ryan Roland was fouled in his attempt to get open.

Roland played significant minutes off the bench, but missed his only shot attempt of the game, and had his team’s lone misfire in overtime missing the front end of a one-and-one free throw attempt 23 seconds earlier.

It’s unlikely Roland had ever stepped to the foul line in a situation with greater gravitas, but he cooly drained both freebies with neither finding a hint of iron on the way down.

Norwich spurned a timeout call, and inbounded the ball to Sutton, who was halted at the three-point line. Seeing that Sutton was caught in a bit of a pickle, Norwich coach Tom Collier called for a timeout with 4.4 seconds remaining.

What ensued was perfect execution in every way save the ball passing through the hoop.

Zan Stewart made a hard move toward the basket, then circled back to the top of the key unimpeded. He made the catch, turned, elevated and released the ball in rhythm. A shot he has made likely hundreds, perhaps thousands of times, was true on its way to the basket, but on this occasion, the basketball gods did not permit passage through the cylinder.

“Our coaches set up a great play, and it was pretty much in,” said Sutton post-game, who torched Westhill for 54 points over the past two seasons. “It was halfway in, it just didn’t go in.”

And that’s basketball: Sometimes the shots fall, sometimes they don’t.

“(This loss) hurts so much for our team because the kids play so hard and it means so much to them,” Collier said. “They put so much time in that it physically hurts in your heart after a game like this. But they have nothing to be ashamed of.

“We’ve talked many times about our program being much more than just basketball. It’s about life lessons. If this loss is the worst thing that ever happens to them, based on my personal experiences, then these kids are going to have a pretty good life.”

Still, the close calls, the near-misses, and the almosts will be relived for some time to come. Folks, this game was one heck of a dandy between two clubs deserving of their top-three state rankings.

Unlike its last appearance at the Events Center last month when it piled up 85 points in a STAC title win over Union-Endicott, points were hard to come by for the Purple. Stewart’s jumper from the foul line was his team’s only bucket as Westhill raced to an early 8-2 lead.

Sutton triggered a 12-2 spurt to end the opening quarter hitting a foul line jumper. Backup forward Colin Stewart showed a quick step to the hoop with a driving bucket, Storm Cook put back an offensive rebound, and Sutton closed the quarter with back-to-back three balls, the latter of which was a perfectly executed end-of-quarter sequence.