By ANDREW FEEBACK
Sometimes, a basketball player gets hot and has a night to remember.
The Norwell Knights had two players do that Monday night, with Jake Parker and Luke McBride both notching career highs and helping the Knights defeat the visiting Heritage Patriots 85-58.
McBride took over in the second half on his way to 36 points, but early on, it was Parker putting on a show.
Norwell (16-3) hit its first nine shots, seven of which came from Parker, who scored all 18 of his points in the first quarter.
His fourth triple gave the Knights a 24-12 lead before Norwell even missed its first shot.
“Jake got rolling, and I thought our guys did a good job finding him,” coach Mike McBride said.
After putting up 28 points in the first quarter, Norwell slowed down a bit in the second, but still led 38-28 at halftime even though Luke McBride had only taken one shot and scored 6 points.
Heritage (4-12) was able to hang around in the first half thanks to some timely buckets and shooting 40 percent overall.
Then, the second half began, and Luke McBride entered the chat.
“I thought he passed up some shots in the first half, and the second half, he was a lot more aggressive, looking to score,” coach McBride said. “We talked about it at halftime, making sure he was looking for his opportunities, and the second half he came out more aggressive, and I think that was the difference.”
It took less than a minute for Luke to double his point total, knocking down a quick pair of triples. He hit three more in the third quarter on his way to finishing a perfect 6-of-6 beyond the arc.
He scored all but 3 of Norwell’s third quarter points as the Knights took a 62-50 lead.
Heritage stayed in it awhile longer with Luke Saylor getting hot, as he hit three treys on his way to a team-leading 24 points.
Saylor, who had to change jerseys after getting a bloody nose in the first half, scored his 1,000th career point on a free throw late in the third quarter.
It was still 65-55 with about six minutes left after the Patriots’ Dalton Wasson scored 5 straight points, and 70-58 when Kobe Meyer drilled a 3-pointer.
The Patriots failed to score in the last four minutes, with Norwell getting one last triple from McBride, back-to-back buckets underneath from Luke Graft, and a pair of 3-pointers from reserve Gavin Hoeppner in the final minute to finish it off.
Heritage made 10 of 27 shots from deep in this game, which would be pretty decent most of the time, but wasn’t enough to match Norwell’s 13 of 19.
Norwell shot over 60 percent for the game, connecting on 31 of 49 from the floor.
It would have been hard to guess, but Norwell had about 30 minutes of preparation for this game after playing Columbia City Saturday afternoon, then turning around to play a Monday night game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday.
“We need some practice time,” coach McBride said. “Our practice time has been disjointed with the weather. We’ve got three days to practice before we head to Huntington. We played well offensively and shot the ball well. We need to shore up some things defensively, but overall, I thought it was a really good performance.”
Norwell will travel to Huntington North Friday night. A win would give the Knights at least a share of the Northeast 8 conference title.
The Knights took the JV game 58-37. Drew Graft scored 13 points, while Adam McBride and Gavin Hoeppner both had 12.
The freshman game went to Heritage, 26-24.
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NORWELL 85, HERITAGE 58
At Norwell High School
HERITAGE (4-12): Nyles Knapke 1-3 0-0 3, Kobe Meyer 5-8 1-4 15, Tanner Whitman 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Hale 0-1 2-2 2, Luke Saylor 9-23 3-3 24, Dalton Wasson 3-9 0-1 8, Austin Buuck 0-1 0-0 0, Leroy Lepper 1-1 0-0 2, Adam Whitman 0-2 0-0 0, Trevor Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Trevin Schaffner 0-0 0-0 0, Howard Kaiser 0-0 2-5 2. TOTALS: 20-49 8-15 58.
NORWELL (16-3): Jon Colbert 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Hoeppner 2-3 0-0 6, Jake Parker 7-13 0-0 18, Luke Graft 4-4 0-2 8, Cohen Bailey 1-2 4-4 6, Lleyton Bailey 3-8 0-1 7, Luke McBride 12-14 6-7 36, Ashton Federspiel 1-3 0-0 2, Cade Shelton 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Boleyn 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 31-49 10-14 85.
Heritage 17 11 22 8 –– 58
Norwell 28 10 24 23 –– 85
Three-point Goals: Heritage 10-27 (Meyer 4-7, Saylor 3-9, Wasson 2-7, Knapke 1-2, Adam Whitman 0-1, Buuck 0-1), Norwell 13-19 (McBride 6-6, Parker 4-6, Hoeppner 2-2, Lleyton Bailey 1-4, Cohen Bailey 0-1). Rebounds: Heritage 18 (Kaiser 9, Wasson 4, Saylor 3, Lepper 1, Adam Whitman 1), Norwell 25 (Federspiel 5, Graft 4, Bolyn 4, Shelton 3, McBride 3, Lleyton Bailey 3, Colbert 2, Parker 1). Turnovers: Heritage 11, Norwell 10. Fouls: Heritage 14, Norwell 16. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Norwell 58, Heritage 37.
Freshman: Heritage 26, Norwell 24.
