Norwich unable to hold lead

Boys’ Basketball

Sus Valley 42, Norwich 41

CONKLIN – Norwich failed to hold a fourth-quarter lead for the second time this past week, and suffered another hard-luck defeat Friday at Susquehanna Valley.

Norwich (8-5) has two losses this season by one point and two more in overtime, one of those to Chenango Valley this past Tuesday. “This was a tough one,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “It was a game of great effort on both sides, and some ugly, ugly basketball. The defenses were stingy, but at the same time, the offenses were really bad.”

Coming off a lackluster first half in which Norwich trailed SV 16-13, Robert Martin spearheaded the Tornado’s one solid quarter of basketball dumping in 10 points in a 20-point outburst that gave NHS a 33-25 edge with eight minutes to play.

SV rallied using a strong inside game to close the gap, and after a Nate Foote jumper put Norwich up 41-39 with 1:01 to play, it was the SV defense that swung the tide.

Norwich regained possession after a defensive stop, but turned the ball over leading to a Ryan Mitchell layup that allowed the hosts to tie the game at 41-41 with 34.7 seconds left.

Norwich set up for the last shot, but a backcourt violation with 18 seconds remaining gave SV the ball back again. With 4.3 seconds remaining, David Hessell was fouled and hit one of two foul shots for the lead, the second attempt, a miss, was knocked around in a loose-ball scramble as time expired. “Our last game was an offensive war and this was a defensive war,” Abbott said. “I’m not a fan of mental mistakes, and we made too many of them down the stretch when we had chances to do damage with the clock and give ourselves breathing room.”

Martin led Norwich with 17 points and Wade Kornegay came off the bench to net a season-high eight.

Norwich: Shane Thompson, 0 2-2-2; Patrick Coates, 0; Keegan Edwards, 1 3-4-5; Nate Foote, 2 0-0-4; Robert Martin, 6 3-6-17; Vaughn Labor, 0; Tyler Saroka, 0; Justin Ballin, 0; Wade Kornegay, 3 1-2-8; Amos Parry, 2 1-2-5; Craig Berg, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 14 10-16-41.

Sus Valley: Eric Novobilski, 0; Nick Pace, 2 0-0-5; Pat Reardon, 1 0-0-2; David Hessell, 2 1-2-5; Ryan Mitchell, 3 2-2-10; Terrell Irvine, 4 4-7-12; Ryan McKercher, 1 0-0-2; Eric Freije, 2 2-4-6; Mike Chantry, 0. Totals: 15 9-17-42.

Score by quarters

NHS 5 8 20 8–41

SVa. 4 12 9 17–42

Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (SV) Mitchell 2, Pace. JV: Norwich won 57-38, Officials: Barker, Westfall.

Sherburne-Earlville 57, Sauquoit Valley 35

SAUQUOIT – Sherburne-Earlville won its 15th straight game and moved one win from clinching a division title in Friday’s win at Sauquoit Valley.

Leading the Indians by only three points at halftime, S-E pulled away holding the host team to just 13 second-half points. Jon Pinney and Wilson Rose scored six points in the third, and Tom Niles added four to expand the halftime margin to 14. “Our defensive intensity in the second half was as good as it’s been all year,” said S-E coach Kevin Vibbard. “We made them go faster than they wanted, and on our offensive end we executed well.”

Rose scored a game-high 22 points and Pinney added 13. S-E can clinch the division title with a win over Cooperstown Thursday.

SV: Brian Gaskell, 2 0-0-5; David Kuhn, 2 0-0-4; Rafael Morales, ; Cory Gibson, 4 0-0-10; Kyle Edelman, 2 0-0-4; Josh Randall, 2 0-0-5; Jared Montgomery, 1 0-2-2; Nick Hanretty, 1 3-3-5; Pat Julian, 0. Totals: 14 3-5-35.

S-E: Ken Knickerbocker, 0; Corey Fitzgerald, 0; Gabe Fowler, 2 0-0-5; Jon Pinney, 5 0-0-13; Drew Doscher, 2 0-0-5; Wilson Rose, 10 1-2-22; Caleb Johnson, 1 0-0-2; Garrett Porack, 1 0-0-2; Tom Niles, 3 0-0-6; Dan Leet, 0; Ethan Sconzo, 1 0-1-2. Totals: 25 1-4-57.

SV 12 10 7 6–35

S-E 14 11 20 12–57

Fouled out: (SV) Hanretty. (SE) Pinney 3, Fowler, Doscher, Rose, (SE) Gibson 2, Gaskell, Randall. JV: S-E won 51-30.

Unadilla Valley 42, Unatego 34

NEW BERLIN – Unadilla Valley allowed Unatego just nine points in the first half to lead by 12 and win a defensive battle over the Spartans Friday.

Juston Parks had 16 points and eight steals for UV, and Mason Wyman tacked on 11 including 9-for-12 from the foul line.

Unatego: Kahle Harris 0 0-0 0, Kyle Palmer 0 2-3 2, David Havens 1 0-0 2, Jeff Fazio 0 1-2 1, Owen Moss 2 0-0 4, Alex Hendrickson 3 0-0 7, Kyle Falkenmeyer 1 1-2 3, Mark Hendrickson 1 0-0 2, Allen Knowlton 0 0-0 0, Joe Innes 4 5-7 13. Totals: 12 9-14 34.

UV: Juston Parks 5 5-6 16, Matt Potter 1 1-2 3, Josh Rivenburgh 1 0-0 2, Raffi Perry 3 1-2 8, Jake Curtis , Mason Wyman 1 9-12 11, Darin Garcia 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 16-22 42.

Unatego 3 6 13 12 –34

UV 11 10 4 17 – 42

Three-point field goals: (U) A. Hendrickson; (UV) Perry, Parks. JV score: Unatego, 58-49.

Otselic Valley 66, Madison 25

SOUTH OTSELIC – Otselic Valley was at its stingiest defensively on Friday, and it regrouped offensively from a pair of poor shooting nights earlier this month in a rout Friday.

Taylor Duell scored 11 points and was matched by Aaron Wood’s season-high 11 points in a balanced scoring performance. “We had some good play from the guys off the bench and David Cerasani’s point guard play was good,” said OV coach Dave Loomis. “It was really encouraged by tonight, and we needed a game like this to get going in the right direction.”