By RYAN WALKER
The Norwell Knights dropped their season opener 59-58, traveling to Carroll Wednesday night.
The Chargers (1-0) won the game on a putback bucket near the rim from sophomore Jaiyre Sampson with five seconds remaining.
Norwell (0-1) had a chance with two seconds on the clock for the last shot. Senior Brody Bolyn lofted the inbound pass from center-court to the left side of the paint in the hands of Jake Parker, who had an open look but hit the back iron.
“We had a really good shot at the end. It just didn’t drop,” head coach Mike McBride said after the game. “You’re watching it, and you think, ‘OK, we got a good look there.’ So, definitely the first game for us, and some things that we can improve on, but we’ve got to move forward and continue to get better.”
McBride’s Knights had the lead for the majority of the game but never was able to put the Chargers away. In the first half, it was the Luke McBride show. After Carroll took their first lead by one in the second quarter, McBride scored six straight points to regain the lead 22-17.
The Knights had a one-point lead and were waiting to take the last shot at the half as McBride sized up his defender. With about five seconds left, he started towards the basket and drew in two defenders to help, but it wasn’t enough as he knifed through the lane and picked up an easy two at the buzzer. The bucket would give him 14 at the break (he scored 26 total).
In the third quarter, Norwell led 39-33 when Lleyton Bailey drilled a three, but the Chargers wouldn’t falter. Grant Peters got a putback on an offensive rebound, followed by a Jaxon Pardon and one. The Knights got a bucket from Cohen Bailey, but Carroll ended up down one point with a couple of jumpers.
Again, the Knights went up by six points midway through the fourth quarter, seemingly ready to pull away, but four straight scoring possessions later put the Chargers back in the lead 57-52.
“Unfortunately, we went from up six to down three in that stretch,” coach McBride said. “I thought that was a time where maybe we needed to have just a little more patience on the offensive end, but you’ve got to give them credit. They hit some shots.”
Luke McBride would get the Knights back on the board with a three-pointer with 1:57 remaining and a two-point deficit.
With the late lead, Carroll dribbled the ball around the top of the arc, with Norwell defending step for step. They took about 50 seconds off the clock before Pardon found an opening to drive the lane and put up a 10-foot floater but missed and gave the ball back to the Knights.
On the ensuing possession, Lleyton Bailey took the lead with a three of his own 57-56 with 35 seconds left.
Carroll took the ball down to about 15 seconds with the ball. Pardon’s corner shot would not fall, but just as Norwell grabbed the rebound, they got it stolen away for another possession. Pardon took another shot from the left corner and missed again, but an unguarded Jaiyre Sampson snuck through two Norwell rebounders and got a putback to take the lead. He grabbed the ball in midair, making the shot during the jump.
With a few seconds left, Brody Bolyn had the ball at center court after a timeout. Coach McBride drew up the final play that they’d worked on in practice and had to use it in the first game of the season.
“It’s something that we’ve worked on. We had it in going in. It’s something we work on in practice for that type of situation. So we knew what we wanted to do and drew that up.”
The play was open and had multiple options. Luke McBride came off of a screen but was covered, so Bolyn’s second option was to float the ball up to Jake Parker on the other side of the court near the paint. Parker made the catch and went towards the basket, relatively uncontested, and just missed as he hit the back iron, ending the game.
Coach McBride, after the game, emphasized the late offensive rebounding from the Chargers.
“I thought the big key of the game was that they just came up with a few more offensive rebounds than us, and it ended up turning the tide.”
And despite the loss, McBride said that they knew this was a good challenge for his team coming in, and they learned a lot about his team. Carroll, a 6A school, gave them a good road test to start the season.
Norwell will have their home opener against Mississinewa Tuesday, at 7:45 p.m., Nov. 29.
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NORWELL 58, CARROLL 59
At Carroll High School
NORWELL (0-1): Gavin Hoeppner 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Parker 1-7 0-0 2, Luke Graft 2-6 0-0 4, Adam McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Cohen Bailey 1-2 0-0 2, Lleyton Bailey 5-13 2-2 16, Luke McBride 10-20 3-3 25, Brody Bolyn 4-5 1-3 9. TOTALS: 23-54 6-8 58.
CARROLL (1-0): Jaiyre Sampson 2-4 3-5 7, Charlie Rudolph 0-0 0-0 0, Jaxon Pardon 8-20 0-0 21, Cannon Houser 5-12 2-2 15, Andrew Sinish 4-6 1-2 7, Grant Peters 3-4 1-2 7.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Norwell 16 15 12 15 – 58
Carroll 13 15 14 17 – 59
3-point goals: Norwell 6-19 (L. Bailey 4-9, L. McBride 2-5, C. Bailey 0-1 Parker 0-4), Carroll 7-20 (Houser 3-6, Pardon 3-11, Sinish 1-2, Sampson 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 23 (Bolyn 8, L. McBride 6, Graft 4, C. Bailey 2, L. Bailey 2, Parker 1), Carroll 25 (Peters 9, Sinish 5, Pardon 4, Sampson 4, Houser 2). Turnovers: Norwell 7, Carroll 9. Fouls: Norwell 14, Carroll 11. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
