Frank Speziale Photo
NORWICH – With a few more gray hairs following Saturday nights quarterfinal game – the Norwich boys basketball fans were hoping for a much more comfortable win – a wish they received, with a 69-53 win at home.
Norwich punched their ticket to Floyd L. Maines Arena in Binghamton on Feb. 28, for a Section IV Class B finals berth with the home win over the visiting Sabers of Susquehanna Valley.
In doing so – in a much safer fashion than Saturday's game, a game which the Tornado needed an overtime period and Tre Bonham free-throw to take the four-point lead over visiting Newark Valley – top-seeded Norwich has solidified themselves once again in Section IV as a contender.
“We played much better tonight than we did on Saturday,” said Norwich head coach Brian Collier following the semifinal win. “We were really fast, we had a lot of energy tonight.”
To which the Tornado boys were, racing to a huge first period advantage over the then flailing Sabers, taking the lead after the first eight minutes at 21-8. Attacking the rim right from the get-go was the Norwich trio of Ky'sawn Veale, Dashawn King and Chris Jeffrey – as they combined for Norwich's first 21 points – splitting the points seven, eight, and six respectively.
Foul trouble looked to an early and often achilles heel for the Tornado, despite the solid offensive play in the early minutes. Five fouls in just the second period resulting in the Sabers going 4-9 and helping contribute to a 12 point Saber period to close out the half as Norwich held the lead at 39-20.
Norwich looked solid emerging from the half to rack up 11 points in the first six minutes of the third period – however, a defiant Sabers refused to break taking 12 points in the time – as the game moved to a 50-32 score.
With 2:00 minutes left in the third period a timeout was called by coach Collier – in the confusion of the high-flying game Collier was given a technical foul – a move that truly seemed to swing the momentum as the game progress.
Sus. Valley's star Austin Haskell stepped to the line and sunk two free-throws moving the game to 52-32.
“We kind of slowed down there, and I kind of hurt the guys when I got the technical foul. So I apologize for that, it halted their momentum,” said coach Collier. “We did a great job tonight though and Chris (Jeffrey) played well. We really got into the paint tonight. They helped and then Chris was a huge beneficiary, he just finished everything down low.”
Despite coach Collier getting T'd up in the third – Jeffrey would have none of it. Jeffrey raced down the court at 1:28 left in the third, drove inside for the layup and two-points – while also grabbing the foul where he subsequently went 1-2 to take the game to 53-32.
However, although the statement was made by Jeffrey – who notably finished with team high 21 points, and nearly grabbed the double-double with a team high nine rebounds – Norwich failed to score until senior Tre Bonham broke the silence with a buzzer beater at the end of the third. Bonham's three preserved the lead over the hungry Sabers at 56-39.
Bonham opened the final period right where he left off, driving in for the layup at just 7:43 left in the period – Norwich wouldn’t score again until the 5:16 mark when King slid his way in for the field goal.
In that time, Sus. Valley was afforded time to breath. Time that allowed the Sabers to bring the game back within striking distance at 60-48.
