By RYAN WALKER
Norwell survived a 62-52 grinder with Heritage, blowing a 16-point lead at halftime but standing strong when it mattered most at The Castle.
That first half clearly belonged to the Knights (10-8), who jumped to a 17-3 first-quarter lead that kept the Patriots (6-12) out of reach.
They did it by winning the rebounding battle, totaling in at 34-23 for the game. Nearly half of them were offensive rebounds that cashed in for points.
That was enough that Heritage head coach Kyle Sovine chirped at his team to box out and rebound, but it continued, and Norwell stretched the lead further and further before the halftime buzzer.
The halftime speech must have meant more, because it was like the teams flipped uniforms.
It began with an 11-4 run that was led by Noah Redmond’s second triple, and Braden Walter producing back-to-back twos. Then, it was LanTae Cassel’s turn, hitting a three to score five more by himself.
Norwell head coach Mike McBride tried to put out the fire with a timeout to refocus his team, but Heritage didn’t let in.
D’Vontaye Washing’s layup at the horn led the Patriots from a once 18-point deficit to just 10 into the final period.
McBride attempted to tell his team in the locker room at the half that referred to a previous game against Columbia City when they were down 35-17. The coaching staff sent a message to the Knights to try and chip away at the lead. He countered that talk with how Heritage might come out and want to do the same.
“And that’s where we got to come out, like, maybe we don’t build on the lead, but we want to maintain it,” McBride said. “So we come out not as aggressive, and they come out more aggressive. So, they start getting some things to go their way. Where we have to come out just as aggressively as we did to start the game and be able to maintain.”
The 10-point advantage dwindled to a 47-44 spread after a duo of threes by Heritage with 4:01 left.
Then, entered Cohen Bailey.
The senior guard out of the timeout immediately swished a three. His counterpart Adam McBride on the next possession converted a three-point-play to hold the fort over the next two minutes.
In the meantime, Kaedyn Quintanilla’s three helped shove a quick 6-0 spurt by the Patriots.
The lead was 56-50 and 1:06 to play. That was when Heritage came with a full-court press, and Bailey used his track speed to breakaway for a layup with a foul, crashing into the basket. He nailed the free throw and sealed away the victory.
“I thought Cohen Bailey was the big key,” McBride said. “I just thought he kept his composure. Some of our guys lost our mental concentration in that fourth quarter and Cohen kept his focus, and every time we needed a play made, he kind of made that play for us.”
It turned out that the Knights needed just about every point in the first half. Heritage made it an even battle in the second half in a 28-26 third and fourth quarters in favor of Norwell.
“I thought we played a great first half. We defended well, executed well, offensively and our bench guys were very good,” McBride said. “I didn’t think we came out very sharp early in the third, and then they kind of cut into, I thought they came out more aggressive.”
Norwell won the junior varsity game 50-29. Caiden Petrie led the Knights with 11 points, and Ryne Thornton and Drew Jolly finished in double figures.
Norwell visits Huntington North in Northeast 8 Conference play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9.
ryan@news-banner.com
NORWELL 62, HERITAGE 52
At Norwell
HERITAGE (6-12): Kobe Meyer 6-9 1-2 15, Noah Redmond 5-10 0-0 12, LanTae Cassel 3-5 0-0 8. D’Vontaye Waashington 2-5 2-2 6, Braden Walter 2-3 0-2 4, Tauren Brown 1-6 2-2 4, Eli Tigulis 1-2 0-0 2, Landon Lybarger 0-4 1-2 1. TOTALS: 20-47 7-12 52.
NORWELL (10-8): Cohen Bailey 10-13 1-2 24, Ashton Federspiel 4-12 5-8 13, Kaedyn Quintanilla 3-6 0-0 8, Adam McBride 3-7 1-1 8, Nick McBride 0-1 4-4 4, Cade Shelton 2-7 0-0 4, Owen Wallis 0-0 1-2 1.TOTALS: 22-46 12-17 62.
Heritage 3 13 16 20 — 62
Norwell 17 17 8 20 — 52
Three-point FG: Heritage 5-15 (Redmond 2-4, Cassel 2-2, Meyer 1-2, Tigulis 0-1, Lybarger 0-3, Walter 0-2), Norwell 6-13 (Bailey 3-4, Quintanilla 2-4, A. McBride 1-3, N. McBride 0-1, Federspiel 0-1). Rebounds: Heritage 23 (Cassel 6, Redmond 6, Meyer 3, Washington 2, Brown 1, Walter 2), Norwell 34 (Federspiel 8, Bailey 8, Shelton 7, A. McBride 4, Quintanilla 3, Wallis 1). Turnovers: Heritage 5, Norwell 13. Fouls: Heritage 11, Norwell 12. Fouled Out: Norwell: A. McBride 5. Technicals: None.
JV: 50-29 Norwell.
Freshman: 34-13 Norwell.
