NORWICH- Facing at one point as much as a 19 point deficit, the Norwich Purple Tornado boys’ varsity basketball team refused to go down without a fight Tuesday night at Jack Jones gymnasium, against the Delhi Bulldogs; the 12th ranked team in NYS class C boys basketball.

Delhi raced out to a 25-8 halftime advantage over the Purple. In the end, that first half lead proved to be the difference in the game as the visiting Bulldogs prevailed to a 50-43 victory. Luke Schnabel and Angelo Kazyston combined for 14 first half points to lead Delhi in the opening 16 minutes. To go along with their commanding lead at intermission, the Bulldog’s only allowed a single Purple Tornado field goal through the first two quarters.

That all would change in the second half.

Norwich outscored Delhi 35-25 over the final 16 minutes of play, with the NHS squad getting the deficit to within four points with under three minutes to go in the contest. The key for Norwich to break into the Bulldog’s lead came via the charity stripe. The Tornado shot 81% (18-22) over the final 16 minutes of play, after shooting a less than stellar 66% (6-9) in the first half.

The Tornado’s Torin Lawrence, Keegan Franklin and Steven Dowdall all led Norwich in scoring with nine points each with teammate Logan Ford pitching in seven points in the setback.