By Robert Jeffrey

Sun Sports Contributor

Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH- The past four years of Norwich boys’ basketball in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference has been nothing but a golden age of memories for the Purple Tornado faithful. In those four STAC final appearances the boys from Norwich have recorded three STAC titles, which have all run concurrently over the past three seasons.

But this season is different as the Tornado faced a dominate opponent in the Ithaca Little Red, who had already punished the Tornado in a 23 point loss in the Juggler Classic Final on January 15. And it proved on Wednesday night, Feb 9, that the home court advantage that the Purple Tornado held over their foe was non-existent. And it began to feel halfway through the third quarter that this game was being played in Ithaca instead of Jack Jones gymnasium. Just as history repeats itself, the Little Red performed a dominate display of basketball that would make Julius Caesar proud as they executed- veni, vedi, vici, also known as; I came, I saw, I conquered.

However, the Little Red didn’t take over until the third period. The Tornado put up a fight in the early going as Michael Carson scored nine of his team-high 12 points in the first period of play guiding Norwich to a 16-16 tie in the first quarter. Carson rebounded and put up the equalizing lay-up as the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the first period of action.

Norwich fell behind in the second quarter, as they were outscored 16-6. Ithaca held a 32-22 lead by the end of the first half. The Tornado came out in brute force in the third… and then faded. The Tornado’s Tre Bonham hit back to back three's for the Tornado while Ithaca scored two buckets of their own to cut the Little Red lead to eight points. Chris Jeffrey’s put back had the Tornado within six and the energy was revitalized at Norwich High School as Ithaca only led 36-30 with six minutes left to play in the third quarter. That was as close as game was after that point.

From there, Ithaca proceeded to score 24 points in the quarter – mostly aided by Jordanny Cuevas Marte who had 16 points out of his game high 23 in the period. Ithaca got after loose balls and repeatedly got offensive rebounds for second, third, and fourth chance points. Meanwhile, Norwich mustered only six more points in the period as Ithaca led 60-36 with the fourth quarter still yet to play. At the conclusion of the third, the stands were emptied as many fans headed for the parking lot. In the fourth period, Ithaca scored 17 points to Norwich’s 12 points in the quarter.