By ANDREW FEEBACK
FORT WAYNE – Two conference champions collided to end the regular season for an intense matchup which saw the Norwell Knights fall to the Homestead Spartans 70-57 Friday night.
The Knights (19-4) gave the Spartans (19-5) a battle, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with one of the top teams, including one of the top players, in the state.
Norwell struggled to make shots in the first half and went into halftime trailing 33-19.
“We had some good shots, but we didn’t knock very many of them in,” coach Mike McBride said. “We seemed a little bit rushed; I think their pressure and length created that. We were in a pretty good spot; we were down 4 with the ball, then they went on a 6-0 run like that, and I thought that was a big key, because once it got to double figures, we were just fighting the whole night.”
The pace favored the Knights early, even though they trailed 11-7 after one.
Early in the second quarter, a back-breaking sequence swung the momentum decisively Homestead’s way.
Norwell rebounded a missed shot, trailing 15-11, and a foul was called on Homestead.
But moments later, a technical foul was called on Lleyton Bailey.
That gave the ball back to Homestead, plus two shots, and when Andrew Leeper drew a foul on the ensuing possession and made both attempts, the deficit had doubled before the Knights got the ball again.
Norwell racked up 11 fouls in the first half, leading to 15 Homestead free throws, of which it made 14.
In the second half, the Knights turned the tables on the foul count, drawing eight fouls on the Spartans before committing their first.
“We did a better job getting to the free-throw line, and I thought we made shots that we missed in the first half,” McBride saiid.
Norwell got a 3-point play from Luke McBride, a 3-pointer from Bailey and a bucket from Brody Bolyn to make it a single-digit game.
When Bailey hit another three and McBride made a turnaround jumper in the paint, Norwell was within 38-32.
That’s when Fletcher Loyer, a Mr. Basketball candidate who will play at Purdue next year, more or less took over the game.
He scored all of Homestead’s points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers that pushed the Spartan lead back into double digits.
When Norwell pulled within 45-39 with under two minutes to go in the third, he made a mid-range jumper, then drew two fouls on Luke McBride only three seconds apart. The second one resulted in three free throws with just one second to play, and Homestead went up by 11 again.
“We lost that last minute-48 5-0, and that hurt us,” McBride said. “Our goal was to be down about 7 points at the end of the third.”
Loyer hit another trey to make it 53-42, and Norwell never got within single digits again.
“He’s definitely the best scorer we’ve faced,” McBride said. “We’ve faced some good players, but we haven’t faced anything on his level. He can get going, and he did. Give him credit; they found him and he got going. They’ve got talented players around him. It’s a good basketball team.”
Homestead pushed its lead as high as 68-51 before both teams cleared their benches.
Assisting Loyer were Kyron Kaopuiki with 11 points and Grant Leeper with 10.
McBride led the Knights with 20 points while Bailey added 19.
Although it was a tough finish to end the regular season, McBride was pleased with his team’s performance overall.
“I thought our kids competed really hard,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough tonight.”
Norwell will host Heritage in the opening game of sectional play Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
The JV game went to Homestead, 48-34. Gavin Hoeppner scored 12 points, Drew Graft had 9 and Kaedyn Quintanilla had 6.
Homestead also took the freshmen game 47-30
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HOMESTEAD 70, NORWELL 57
At Homestead High School
NORWELL (19-4): Jon Colbert 1-1 0-2 2, Gavin Hoeppner 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Parker 0-4 0-0 0, Luke Graft 2-2 2-6 6, Cohen Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, Lleyton Bailey 5-11 4-4 19, Luke McBride 6-15 7-8 20, Ashton Federspiel 1-2 1-2 4, Cade Shelton 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Bolyn 3-4 0-0 6. TOTALS: 18-42 14-22 57.
HOMESTEAD (19-5): Fletcher Loyer 11-17 11-12 36, Max Schiltz 2-3 1-2 5, Kyron Kaopuiki 4-9 2-2 11, Grady Swing 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Leeper 1-6 2-3 4, Grant Leeper 3-4 4-5 10, Ifeanyi Ezeakudo 0-0 2-2 2, Elijah Marcisz 0-0 0-0 0, Kenny Austin 0-0 0-0 0, Nic Gallagher 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Sermersheim 0-0 0-0 0, Tucker Day 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 22-44 22-26 70.
Norwell 7 12 20 18 –– 57
Homestead 11 22 17 20 –– 70
Three-point Goals: Norwell 7-22 (Lleyton Bailey 5-9, McBride 1-7, Federspiel 1-1, Parker 0-3, Cohen Bailey 0-2), Homestead 4-15 (Loyer 3-7, Kaopuiki 1-4, Andrew Leeper 0-2, Shiltz 0-1, Marcisz 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 23 (Bolyn 8, Graft 7, McBride 4, Parker 2, Hoeppner 1, Federspiel 1), Homestead 25 (Grant Leeper 7, Loyer 5, Kaopuiki 4, Andrew Leeper 3, Swing 2, Day 2, Marcisz 1, Gallagher 1). Turnovers: Norwell 12, Homestead 5. Fouls: Norwell 21, Homestead 19. Fouled out: None. Technicals: Lleyton Bailey.
JV: Homestead 48, Norwell 34
Freshman: Homestead 47, Norwell 30
