Oxford holds on for Schwan Tournament championship

NORWICH – It’s but all or nothing for Oxford in the Tom Schwan Tournament of late, and this year it was the “all’s” turn.

The Blackhawks survived several last-minute shot attempts by Norwich to tie or take the lead, and held on for a 46-45 victory Saturday. It was the second title in three seasons in this tourney for the Blackhawks, who sandwiched those championships around a last-place finish a year ago.

“I hope we aren’t peaking now, like we did two years ago,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis.

Oxford took the lead for good at the end of the third quarter. With a minute to play, Hugh Witchella tied the game on a layup, and junior Alex Champlin hit a running left-hander in the lane making it 37-35 entering the fourth quarter.

Most of Norwich’s looks at the basket were open jump shots, the last of which by senior Nate Foote caromed off the front of the rim. The Tornado’s Timmy Clark gathered the offensive rebound near the endline, but was whistled for a traveling call when he tripped over an unseen player’s legs. “I didn’t think we shot the ball that well against B-G last Wednesday, but that was nothing compared to this,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “We had so many open looks that didn’t fall. There’s nothing you can do about that except keep shooting them.”

Oxford seemed to gain control of the game when Champlin hit John Witchella with a long inbounds pass for a layup that upped the margin to 42-37.

Norwich’s gritty defense force five Oxford turnovers over the last four minutes drawing a pair of charges, and then getting a steal and layup from Corey Dietrich with 13.2 seconds left to close the margin to one.

Oxford turned it over again on the ensuing inbounds pass setting up Norwich’s failed last-shot attempt. “Our decisionmaking with the ball wasn’t always the best,” Davis admitted. “I thought a key was that we were able to control the boards and hold them to one shot most of the time. We beat two Class B schools in this tournament, so I hope that gives us a good boost going into the league.”