Tornado Gut Out OT Victory
Published: January 26th, 2009
By: Patrick Newell

ONEONTA – Oneonta made a furious rally to force overtime, but had nothing left for the epilogue in another classic battle with Norwich Saturday night.

The Tornado scored 11 straight points in overtime, and went 7-for-8 from the foul line to complete a season sweep of the Yellowjackets, 70-62.

Vaughn Labor, who scored his season-high of 23 in the first meeting with Oneonta, went two better to lead NHS (12-2) with 25 points. Timmy Clark added 18 points, 10 assists, and clutch foul shooting when Norwich needed it the most.

“It was a phenomenal game with great atmosphere and great effort,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “It was a great night of basketball, and even better was that we won.”

Norwich won the season’s first battle with Oneonta, 58-53, and that win was not secured until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Norwich led 28-25 at the half, but seemed to take control of the game building a 43-29 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

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We had a bad end of the third quarter,” Abbott said. “We made poor decisions and they got a few points that were just on us.”

Oneonta got back into the game when Clark had to take a seat on the bench after committing his fourth foul. Without the trusty pilot of Norwich’s offense on the floor, Norwich committed three quick turnovers, and the gap was closed to 45-35 entering the fourth.

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