By JOSH BURRIS
NEW CASTLE – The Norwell Knights’ season came to a close in Saturday’s boys’ basketball Regional 6 tournament at the New Castle Fieldhouse as they lost to the Leo Lions 48-39 in the day’s second game.
Things were all tied up 34-34 with 3:37 left in the fourth quarter following a layup by Norwell’s Luke McBride. And after Leo’s Ayden Ruble sank a reverse layup and Luke Graft got one of two free throws to fall at the other end it was 36-35 Lions with just under three minutes to play.
The Lions (21-5) then pushed that lead to 5 after Jackson McGee and Brody Hiteshew each sank a pair of free throws, but McBride cut the lead to 3 at 40-37 by knocking down two free throws of his own with 1:09 left to go.
Then disaster struck for the Knights.
Leo’s Xavier Middleton drew a foul – Norwell’s 12th of the half – and headed to the line to make two free throws. Then Norwell (22-5) committed two quick turnovers, which were both converted into easy layups by Ruble on the other end to make it a 46-37 game with 23 seconds left on the clock.
That sealed the deal for the Lions, who also defeated NorthWood 56-43 later that evening in the regional championship game.
It was also the second time the Lions have defeated the Knights this season as they also picked up a 62-55 win at The Castle back in January.
“We were in really good shape. I think it was a 3-point game with a minute to go,” Norwell coach Mike McBride recalled after the game. “I just thought the biggest thing was we just didn’t shoot the ball very well from outside.
“Then we only got to the free-throw line eight times compared to their 20 times.”
The Knights made just 15 of 41 shot attempts (36.6 percent) while shooting just 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from beyond the arc. And as McBride stated, Norwell took just eight free throw attempts while makiing six of them for 75 percent.
Being able to hit 3-pointers was that much more important for Norwell as Leo’s 6-foot-7 seniors Caedmon Bontrager and DJ Allen were patrolling the paint on defense.
Norwell did have a strong performance on the defensive end, holding the Lions to 15-of-37 shooting overall (40.5 percent) and 5-of-19 shooting from three (26.3 percent). The Knights also held Bontrager and Allen to just 13 combined points.
Ruble was the Lions’ top scorer with 12 points, while Middleton followed with 10.
McBride led all scorers with 27 points, but no other Knight joined him in double figures. Luke Graft came the closest, scoring 9.
The largest lead Norwell was able to build was in the third quarter at 27-22. After trailing 22-21 at halftime, McBride scored all 8 of Norwell’s third-quarter points – including the quarter’s first 6 – to put his team on top by 5 with 4:16 to go.
Leo then got a free throw from Bontrager and three from Luke LaGrange. McBride hit another jumper on the other end, and Trey Hiteshew made a free throw to cut Norwell’s lead to 29-27 at the end of the third.
McBride said there were a few missed opportunities his team missed in that quarter that could have extended the lead even further.
“I think we had a 5-point lead at one point in the third quarter, but we don’t come up with a few rebounds that we need. And we knew that was going to be a challenge,” he said. “They had eight offensive rebounds, and that made it harder because they are just a difficult team to keep off the boards with their inside guys. And they made their free throws down the stretch. You’ve got to give them credit for that.”
Bontrager pulled down eight boards, and Allen followed with seven. Norwell ended the game with a slight 27-26 advantage in total rebounds, with McBride and Graft each grabbing six.
“Our kids really competed tonight, and Leo’s kids really competed. They just barely got by us tonight,” Norwell’s coach continued. “We knock in a shot or two here or there, or clean up on offensive rebounds, then the game maybe flips and it goes our way.”
The first quarter ended in a 12-12 tie. A three by Jake Parker put Norwell ahead 9-5, but then the Lions rattled off the next 7 to take a 12-9 lead. Then McBride sank a three at the buzzer to tie it up going into the second.
Middleton and Ruble each hit threes that were sandwiched around a McBride layup to take an 18-14 lead. Graft then knocked down two free throws, and McBride got a fastbreak layup to put Norwell ahead 1.
Allen and Graft each swapped buckets that put Norwell ahead 21-20. Then Bontrager got a layup for the last basket of the half to put his team ahead 22-21.
Leo will continue its tournament run next Saturday at semi-state when it will face Mishawaka Marian at Elkhart.
While the loss may sting for the Knights at the moment, their coach is proud of the season they put together. They were Northeast 8 Conference and sectional champions and the runner-ups at the Noblesville Holiday Tournament.
And more could still be to come for this team as Norwell’s roster featured zero seniors.
“I think this season was just an incredible job by our guys,” McBride said. “What a great job by our kids to be able to put themselves in a position to be able to do that. I’m just incredibly proud of what we accomplished this year and how we carried ourselves and how we handled things. We certainly had a lot of stuff we had to deal with this year.
“We are going to enjoy what happened this season. Obviously it’s going to hurt right now, but we will bounce back. Our kids will bounce back from it and move forward. There’s more things we can do to get better. Hopefully this will be a driving force for us moving forward.”
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LEO 48, NORWELL 39
At the New Castle Fieldhouse
LEO (21-5): Trey Hiteshew 0-5 1-2 1, Jackson McGee 0-4 5-6 5, Xavier Middleton 3-5 2-2 10, Brody Hiteshew 0-1 2-2 2, Luke LaGrange 2-4 0-0 5, Ayden Ruble 5-9 0-4 12, DJ Allen 2-2 0-0 4, Caedmon Bontrager 3-7 2-4 9. TOTALS: 15-37 12-20 48.
NORWELL (22-5): Jon Colbert 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Parker 1-8 0-0 3, Luke Graft 3-5 3-4 9, Cohen Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Lleyton Bailey 0-9 0-0 0, Luke McBride 11-16 3-4 27, Ashton Federspiel 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Bolyn 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-41 6-8 39.
Leo 12 10 5 21 –– 48
Norwell 12 9 8 10 –– 39
Three-point Goals: Leo 5-19 (Middleton 2-4, Ruble 2-5, LaGrange 1-3, B. Hiteshew 0-1, Bontrager 0-1, T. Hiteshew 0-2, McGee 0-3), Norwell 3-14 (McBride 2-5, Parker 1-5, L. Bailey 0-4). Rebounds: Leo 26 (Bontrager 8, Allen 7, Ruble 2, LaGrange 2, McGee 2, T. Hiteshew 2, Middleton 1, B. Hiteshew 1), Norwell 27 (McBride 6, Graft 6, L. Bailey 3, Bolyn 3, Colbert 2, C. Bailey 2, Parker 1). Turnovers: Leo 4, Norwell 8. Fouls: Leo 11, Norwell 16. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
