DEWITT – Despite a competitive first half of play, Norwich failed to come out on top, as they lost by a 25-point margin, the most lopsided loss since Norwich's 27-point loss to Johnson City to end the 2011 season.

Norwich came into Friday nights contest red hot, sitting at 8-0, as they looked to continue this streak against one of Class A’s top teams, Jamesville-Dewitt’s Red Rams.

“We haven’t lost in a while, but if it’s going to be a loss then it’s going to be a great loss. It was a great learning experience, because

we lost to one of the top teams in class A. They have a very good senior, and they have good young players,” said Norwich’s head coach Brian Collier.

After a slow start, Norwich rallied to find themselves even at 29-29 with just over a minute left before halftime.

This rally by the Tornado was short lived, as J-D’s own James Boeheim was fouled, missing one and making the next, only to get his own rebound to score an easy layup.

Norwich went into half-time down 5 points, 34-29, after trailing J-D at one point in the first half by as much as 13.

“We wanted to come out in the second half and get a good start. We had

a couple plays drawn up that we wanted to run and we ran them. We just

didn’t make the shots and they came down and made those shots,” said

Collier.

Carlos Ithier scored 18 points for Norwich, which gives Ithier 44

points in the past two games last week. Dashawn King, second leading

scorer for the Tornado, was called in off the bench to add 13 of his

own.

However, despite a strong effort on the offensive side of the ball for

Norwich, the defense seemed at a loss at times.

James Boeheim, senior number 10, and the son of the Syracuse

University men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim gave Norwich their

toughest matchup to date.

“We just didn’t have an answer for number 10 tonight,” said Collier,

“The biggest thing about number 10 is that he can shoot it, and that’s

what we wanted to take away. And then when he was inside, he’d get a

couple of tips and then he would just finish it off.”

Norwich seemed to have no answers for the Boeheim brothers who

combined for 53 of the 79 points scored for J-D.

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