By RICK SPRUNGER

If Norwell put on an offensive display Tuesday night against Heritage, it did the same on defense against Eastern on Friday.

The Knights dismissed Eastern, 63-29, while allowing the Comets next to nothing offensively.

The win upped Norwell’s record to 21-4 and moved it into Saturday night’s finals against Oak Hill (18-5) – a 48-42 winner over Bellmont in the second game.

Cohen Bailey explodes past Eastern’s Austin Roberts for an east layup in the third quarter Friday night at The Castle. (Photo by Glen Werling)

Eastern closed the books on an 8-13 season.

“Defensively, I thought we were very good tonight,” said Norwell coach Mike McBride after the game. “We created a lot of turnovers that led to easy baskets.”

The Knights also stuffed a sock in Eastern’s leading scorer, Levi Mavrick.

Mavrick hit his first two shots as the Comets took a quick 5-0 lead at the outset.

After that, Eastern’s primary go-to offensive threat was an almost shocking 2-for-21 from the field and finished with just 9 points.

“We made some adjustments at the first quarter break,” said McBride later. “We switched off a few of their screens and started making him take tougher shots.”

Something Norwell fans didn’t see often during the regular season, the Knights’ big center Brody Bolyn leads the fast break up the floor after stealing the ball from Eastern’s guard Levi Mavrick (out of view to the left). Trailing on the play are Knight Jake Parker and at right, Corbin Snyder for Eastern. (Photo by Glen Werling)

With that bottle effectively corked, Eastern was done.

After spotting the Comets that early 5-0 lead, Norwell came back in a big way, outscoring the Howard County crew, 14-2, over the next six-plus minutes to take control.

The Knights also ran off a 13-0 spurt in the second quarter en route to a 30-15 halftime lead.

Lleyton Bailey shoots past Eastern’s Cayden Calloway in the first quarter of Sectional 23 semi-final action at The Castle Friday night. (Photo by Glen Werling)

Seemingly the only chink in the Norwell armor was its outside shooting as the Knights connected on just five of 15 3-point opportunities, two of them in the fourth quarter when they were hardly needed.

“One thing I’ve found over the years is that if you have to win three games to win the sectional, there is seemingly one game where you don’t shoot as well,” said McBride later. 

“But we did other things well,” he continued. “We played really well on defense, and we were very good on the offensive boards, especially in the first half.

It’s 5 on 5 as Jake Parker drives in for an easy layup during a quick 10-0 spurt by Norwell in the fourth quarter. Cayden Calloway for Eastern can’t quite catch Parker. (Photo by Glen Werling)

“We did a nice job of getting second chances.”

Eastern scored the first 2 points of the second half on a rebound basket by Elijah Edwards to trim the margin to 30-17.

But that was the last thing that came anywhere near a Comet highlight.

They missed their next six shots while committing three turnovers and watching Norwell roll off another 8 unanswered points – 4 of them on a pair of midcourt steals and uncontested layups by Jake Parker.

Then, with the score 40-21, the Knights kicked it into overdrive and outscored Eastern 23-4 over a stretch of just over eight minutes.

Ashton Federspiel scored from underneath with 30 seconds left in the third quarter, and then Cohen Bailey got a breakaway layup on another steal with six ticks remaining in the period.

Luke McBride drives in for two of his 22 points in the third quarter Friday at The Castle. Eastern’s Trever Crabtree leans on McBride trying to disrupt the play. (Photo by Glen Werling)

Luke McBride stayed with it after missing two shots on the same possession, got a third crack at it, and ended up converting a three-point play to open the fourth.

Parker then got two more pickpocket steals out near midcourt and easy bunny layups at the other end wrapped around a McBride three, and Norwell was in cruise mode.

When Jon Colbert dropped the second of two free throws for a 58-23 lead with 4:55 left, the teams went the rest of the way with a running clock.

McBride led all scorers with 22 points for the Knights while Parker added 15.

Norwell was 24-for-52 from the field for a 46.1 shooting percentage and enjoyed a 35-25 edge on the glass.

Eastern managed just 12-for-48 shooting for an ice-cold 25 percent against Norwell’s pressure.

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NORWELL 63, EASTERN 29

At Norwell High School

EASTERN (8-13):  Levi Mavrick 4-23 0-0 9, Trever Crabtree 0-1 0-0 0, Cayden Calloway 3-9 3-4 10, Austin Roberts 1-3 0-0 2, Elijah Edwards 3-5 0-0 6, Myer Miller 1-4 0-0 2, Corbin Snyder 0-3 0-0 0, Brody Hewitt 0-0 0-0 0, Clayton Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Kaleb Bruno 0-0 0-0 0, Braden Mumaugh 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 12-48 3-4 29.

NORWELL (21-4):  Lleyton Bailey 0-6 0-0 0, Luke McBride 9-16 1-1 22, Jake Parker 6-10 2-2 15, Luke Graft 1-3 5-6 7, Brody Bolyn 1-2 0-0 2, Cohen Bailey 1-3 0-0 2, Ashton Federspiel 4-7 0-1 8, Jon Colbert 1-2 2-4 5, Cade Shelton 1-1 0-0 2, Gavin Hoeppner 0-2 0-0 0, Drew Graft 0-0 0-0 0, Trace Moser 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 24-52 10-14 63.

Eastern   7    8     8    6   ––   29

Norwell 12   18   17  16   ––   63

Three-point Goals:  Eastern 2-15 (Mavrick 1-10, Calloway 1-3, Roberts 0-1, Snyder 0-1), Norwell 5-15 (L. Bailey 0-5, McBride 3-5, Parker 1-3, C. Bailey 0-1, Colbert 1-1). Rebounds: Eastern 25, Norwell 35 (Bolyn 8, Colbert 7).  Turnovers: Eastern 11, Norwell 7. Fouls: Eastern 11, Norwell 7. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.  

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