By RICK SPRUNGER
NEW HAVEN — Norwell cleared a major hurdle in its bid for the Northeast 8 Conference championship with a 77-65 win at New Haven in a brutally physical game Saturday night.
“We control our own destiny,” said Norwell coach Mike McBride after watching his team win its fourth straight game without a defeat in conference play. “Leo, New Haven, and Columbia City are all strong teams, and we’re having to play all three of them on the road. We’ve now beaten two of them. We’ll be at home for East Noble and Huntington North, but we still have to go to Columbia City.” The Eagkes are also unbeaten in four conference outings.
Depending on your perspective, Norwell’s win over New Haven was either easier or more difficult than the final score made it appear.
The Knights cruised through the first two and a half quarters, piling up a 55-31 lead, but then faltered a bit down the stretch and watched the Bulldogs come thundering back and cut that 24-point deficit all the way down to nine at 71-62. That followed back-to-back steals and layups by 6-1 freshman Korbyn Hammel with 1:12 still to play.
“Their pressure caused us issues (in the fourth quarter),” observed McBride. “They’re athletic, they’re strong, they’re quick. We committed some turnovers and missed a front end of a one-and-one. We weren’t as strong on rebounding in the second half, and they (the Bulldogs) were more aggressive.
“That let them get back in it a little bit.”
But Lleyton Bailey connected on a free throw at the 0:55 mark, and Luke Graft alertly picked up a loose ball and fired a long upcourt pass to Jake Parker for an easy bunny that put it out of reach at 74-62 with 44 ticks remaining.
Still, for three quarters, Norwell put on a clinic.
Through those first three periods, the Knights were 21-for-34 from the field for a .618 shooting percentage, committed just six turnovers, and owned a 21-12 advantage on the boards.
From an early 5-5 tie, Norwell set sail on a 19-3 burst that threatened to blow New Haven right out of its own gym.
Lleyton Bailey hit two three-pointers and Parker one in the first period.
And then there was the passing game.
Brody Bolyn hit Luke McBride knifing through the lane for one layup, Bailey lobbed an alley-oop pass to a back-cutting McBride on the baseline for another, and Luke Graft rifled a laser to Parker underneath for a third.
The quarter ended with a clock-aware McBride dumping a pretty pass to a wide-open Graft under the basket for yet another uncontested easy one at the buzzer and a 17-6 Norwell lead.
Then, after a New Haven bucket to open the second period, Ashton Federspiel got into the act with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from the corner, and Bolyn redirected a Gavin Hoeppner miss back in for a 24-8 spread.
Time out, New Haven.
“We got off to a good start,” acknowledged McBride later. “Jake and Lleyton shot the ball well early, and Luke McBride did a great job setting guys up “We handled their full-court press. Defensively, we were able to make them take some tough shots.”
It was 36-22 at halftime; and when Parker started the third quarter with a three-point play underneath on another sharp feed from Lleyton Bailey and then drove the baseline for another hoop, it was a quick 41-22.
The lead peaked at the aforementioned 55-31 at the 3:18 mark of the third after back-to-back threes by McBride and Cohen Bailey.
It was at that point that New Haven regrouped and spun off a quick 10-2 burst of its own and pulled to within 16 points by the end of the period.
Then, with the clock moving like a calendar, Parker and Bolyn each picked up their fourth fouls early in the fourth quarter, Norwell committed four fourth-period turnovers, and New Haven went on another 9-2 spurt to cut the gap down to three possessions. Not to worry.
McBride knocked down a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to keep the Knights out of harm’s way.
McBride finished with a game-high 26 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field, two three-pointers, and a perfect 12-for-12 from the line.
He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out eight assists.
“Luke McBride was spectacular tonight,” said his proud papa. “To play the kind of game he has against the caliber of athletes he’s been playing against, well, that’s Indiana All-Star caliber, if you ask me.”
Parker added 16 points, and Lleyton Bailey and Federspiel nine each for Norwell, which improved to 13-2 on the season.
New Haven got 21 points from 6-4 senior Darrion Brooks, 18 from Hammel, and 12 points and eight rebounds from 6-3 junior James Hardy off the bench.
Jeremiah Cottrell, a 6-3 junior, tossed in 10 points for the Bulldogs, now 7-9 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
Norwell made it a clean sweep with victories in both the junior varsity and C-team games.
The Knights topped New Haven in the reserve contest, 53-46.
They got 15 points apiece from Kaedyn Quintanilla and Adam McBride, 12 from Caiden Petrie, nine from Brady Smith, and two from Owen Wallis.
Norwell won the C-team game, 36-24.
Will Case scored 14 points, Grant Shelton six, Noah Comer and Elijah Jacob five apiece, Noah Schamerloh four, and Quintanilla two for the Knights.
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NORWELL 77,
NEW HAVEN 65
at New Haven High School
NORWELL (13-2, 4-0 NE8): Jake Parker 6-10 2-3 16, Cohen Bailey 2-3 0-0 5, Lleyton Bailey 3-9 1-3 9, Luke McBride 6-9 12-12 26, Brody Bolyn 1-2 2-2 4, Luke Graft 3-3 0-0 6, Ashton Federspiel 3-4 2-2 9, Gavin Hoeppner 1-2 0-0 2. TOTAL: 25-42 19-22 77.
NEW HAVEN (7-9, 3-1 NE8): Jeremiah Cottrell 5-7 0-0 10, Mathias Garcia 0-3 0-0 0, Joseph Robertson 1-3 1-2 4, Korbyn Hammel 6-13 5-9 18, Darrion Brooks 7-18 4-5 21, Chris Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Mylan Graham 0-1 0-0 0, James Hardy 6-10 0-2 12, Darrion Woods 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 25-55 10-18 65.
Norwell 17 19 23 18 — 77
New Haven 6 16 21 22 — 65
Three-point shooting: Norwell 8-19 (Parker 2-5, C. Bailey 1-2, L. Bailey 2-7, McBride 2-3, Federspiel 1-1, Hoeppner 0-1), New Haven 5-20 (Garcia 0-3, Robertson 1-2, Hammel 1-6, Brooks 3-9). Rebounds: Norwell 31 (McBride 9, Bolyn 7, Federspiel 5), New Haven 22 (Hardy 8, Brooks 6). Turnovers: Norwell 10, New Haven 3. Personal fouls: Norwell 15, New Haven 16. Fouled Out: None. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Norwell 53, New Haven 46.
Freshmen: Norwell 36, New Haven 24.
