By RICK SPRUNGER

COLUMBIA CITY — What a second half!

You almost had to see Norwell’s 73-43 romp over Columbia City Saturday afternoon was almost unbelieveable.

Leading just 29-24 with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter, Norwell suddenly turned on the jets.

Luke McBride hit a three-pointer to end the half, and the Knights bombed Columbia City with a 41-19 second-half blitz to turn this key battle between Northeast 8 Conference unbeatens into a laugher.

Right in the middle of everything was a 25-4 Norwell run over about a seven-minute stretch bridging the final two periods to make it look easy.

Norwell, now 16-2 on the season and 7-0 in the conference, needs only a home win over Huntington North Friday night to wrap up an undisputed league championship.

A good Columbia City team fell to 11-8 overall and 6-1 in the loop.

“I think we knew we were 16 minutes away from clinching a share of the conference championship,” smiled an understated but visibly proud Norwell coach Mike McBride when asked what exactly it was that he put in his team’s water bottles in the locker room at halftime. “We really picked up our intensity, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We held (Andrew) Hedrick to just five points in the entire second half. We played like a group of seniors.”

Hedrick, who will join Norwell’s Luke McBride at Bethel next fall, scored 14 first-half points to keep Columbia City in it for that long.

But the Knights limited him to a single free throw in the third quarter when the game was decided, and Columbia City had no answer for Norwell’s full-on blitz.

The game-deciding run started with a rebound basket by Luke Graft that pushed Norwell ahead, 46-33.

McBride followed with a three-pointer, Jake Parker drove in for a layup, and Graft scored from underneath – all in the last two minutes of the third quarter.

Columbia City, meanwhile, was getting only one shot at the basket and was firing blanks.

“They extended their lead to over 12 points, and we needed to speed up,” said Columbia City coach Matt Schauss later. “That’s not our game, and we just got going too fast. They dictated the tempo.”

The quarter ended with McBride grabbing a rebound, threading his way from coast to coast, getting into the lane, and, knowing exactly how much time he had to work with, sinking a soft 10-footer at the buzzer for a 55-33 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

To add insult to injury, the Knights started the fourth period with the ball, and Cohen Bailey immediately drove the lane for two points.

Brody Bolyn scored from underneath and then went to the free throw lane for two shots after an intentional foul by a frustrated Rhet Wilson.

He hit one of two to make it 60-39.

Stratton Fuller finally broke Columbia City’s drought with an inside move.

But a three-pointer by Cohen Bailey, free throws by Graft and Adam Federspiel, and a baseline drive by Lleyton Bailey against a Hedrick layup for his first points in 10 minutes, blew it out to 69-37 and left Norwell one long bullseye away from running the clock on the proud Eagles.

That part didn’t happen.

But it was a mighty satisfying win after what happened in football last fall.

Was that little tidbit in the backs of the players’ minds and perhaps motivating them just a little bit more?

“Oh, I don’t know, I’m not privy to that sort of thing,” murmured the elder McBride, looking at his shoes with a cheesy grin on his face. “They might have said something about that among themselves.”

Norwell finished 27-for-51 from the field for a .529 shooting percentage, including an 11-for-22 performance from behind the arc, committed just three turnovers, and placed four players in double figures.

McBride led the way with 17 points, Cohen Bailey added 14 points, and Parker and Lleyton Bailey chipped in with 12 apiece.

Columbia City was 16-for-43 for a .372 percentage and got a game-high 19 points from Hedrick.

Aiden Denning added 10 for the Eagles.

Columbia City won both the junior varsity and freshman games.

The Eagle jayvees took a 42-41 decision with Norwell getting 17 points from Adam McBride, 10 from Kaedyn Quintanilla, five from Owen Wallis, four from Brady Smith, three from Caiden Petrie, and one apiece from Garry Riley and Ryne Thornton.

The Columbia City freshmen beat Norwell, 41-16.

Norwell was led by Noah Schamerloh with six points, Will Case and Luke Ward with three apiece, and Aedyn Quintanilla and Grant Shelton with two each.

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NORWELL 73, COLUMBIA CITY 43

at Columbia City High School

NORWELL (16-2, 7-0 NE8): Jake Parker 5-9 0-0 12, Cohen Bailey 5-5 1-2 14, Lleyton Bailey 4-10 1-2 12, Luke McBride 7-17 0-0 17, Brody Bolyn 4-5 1-2 9, Luke Graft 2-3 2-3 6, Ashton Federspiel 0-1 2-2 2, Gavin Hoeppner 0-0 0-0 0, Adam McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Kaedyn Quintanilla 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Smith 0-1 1-2 1. TOTAL: 27-51 8-13 73.

COLUMBIA CITY (11-8, 6-1 NE8): Stratton Fuller 1-7 0-0 2, Andrew Hedrick 7-14 3-5 19, Aiden Denning 3-8 2-3 10, Rhet Wilson 2-6 0-0 6, Kam Hoag 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Crosson 1-2 0-0 2, Brady Hartman 1-2 0-0 2, Cayden Kauffman 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 16-43 5-8 43.

Norwell   15  17  23  18 — 73

Col. City 13  11   9   10  — 43

Three-point shooting: Norwell 11-22 (Parker 2-4, C. Bailey 3-3, L. Bailey 3-8, L. McBride 3-6, Graft 0-1), Columbia City 6-20 (Fuller 0-2, Hedrick 2-3, Denning 2-6, Wilson 2-6, Hoag 0-3).  Rebounds: Norwell 32 (Graft 8, L. McBride 6), Columbia City 18. Turnovers: Norwell 3, Columbia City 7. Personal fouls: Norwell 9, Columbia City 9. Fouled Out: None. 

Junior Varsity: Columbia City 42, Norwell 41.

Freshmen: Columbia City 41, Norwell 16.