By RYAN WALKER
Some teams will live and die from three. For Norwell, it lived by it Friday night at The Castle.
Count ‘em eight three-point field goals in the first eight minutes of the cross-county contest with Adams Central (4-2), and that would lead the Knights (5-2) to a 67-54 victory.
The three-ball was certainly what got the Knights ahead early on, leading by 15 at halftime. But the rest of the game was just simply passing around and cutting backdoor to the basket for easy layups — much different than the 30 points Norwell mustered in last year’s game.
This year, head coach Mike McBride studied the film and learned how to attack coach Aaron McClure’s 2-3 zone defense differently. It helps that the Jets lost a handful of seniors from their ACAC championship team, but Norwell ran laps around them regardless.
“We moved the ball really well,” McBride said. “I thought our attack and our game plan against the zone was really good.”
Norwell split four of the eight threes in the first quarter. Adam McBride hit two of them in the final two minutes to get the score up to six. In the second, it was raining threes. Nick McBride and Josh McBride splashed their first attempts of the quarter. Adam and Josh followed with the next two to go on a 12-2 run at the 5:17 mark.
The swishes seemed nonstop, but only two more threes followed for the rest of the game — that was due to Norwell’s ability to cut to the basket for easy buckets.
“Once we got going from the outside, then (the Jets’) zone just had to extend and spread out so much,” McBride said. “And then we were able to get a lot of layups. I mean, usually against Adam Central in the zone, you don’t get that many layups.”
McClure’s group didn’t play too shabby either from beyond the arc. In fact, they made 10 threes in total just like Norwell did on just two more attempts. But where Norwell got them was the over-commitment to the three-point defense.
From two-point range, Norwell shot 15-23 — mostly pass-and-catch layups. Owen Wallis scored 11 points, going 5-6 from the floor, and using his speed to go baseline. Of their 25 total made shots, 88% of them were by assists. McBride credited his guard play, led by Nick and Josh, feeding the ball down in the paint, and for Garry Riley, Ryne Thornton and Wallis for making the right decisions fast when they got the ball.
Conversely, Adams Central made nine shots all game from under the basket.
From the middle of the second quarter and beyond, Norwell was set on cruise control.
At one point in the fourth, the Jets managed to cut into the lead 49-41, but the Knights played patient basketball and found the right player getting to the cup. By the end of the game, Norwell had had four players into double figures. Adam McBride led the Knights with 19, Josh McBride (17), Wallis (13) and Nick McBride (11).
Norwell will be right back at The Castle when it faces county rival Bluffton at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 28.
Norwell won the junior varsity contest 45-36. Trey Privett led the Knights with 20 points, Adam Mahnensmith eight and Cade Thornton seven.
ryan@news-banner.com
NORWELL 67,
ADAMS CENTRAL 54
At Norwell
ADAMS CENTRAL (4-2): Trace Maller 9-16 3-4 27, Braylend Reber 6-12 3-7 16, Lawson Deathe 3-6 0-2 8, Marcus Bollenbacher 1-2 0-0 3, Cade Van De Weg 0-5 0-0 0, Braden Dalrymple 0-2 0-0 0, Drew Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 19-44 6-13 54.
NORWELL (5-2): Adam McBride 8-13 0-0 19, Josh McBride 6-14 1-2 11, Owen Wallis 5-6 3-4 13, Nick McBride 3-12 2-2 11, Garry Riley 2-2 1-2 5, Ryne Thornton 1-1 0-1 2, Trey Privett 0-0 0-0 0, Cade Thornton 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Comer 0-1 0-0 0, Vinny Freiburger 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25-49 7-11 67.
A. Central 13 11 14 16 — 54
Norwell 19 20 10 18 — 67
Three-point Shooting: Adams Central 10-28 (Maller 6-11, Deathe 2-3, Reber 1-4, Bollenbacher 1-2, Van De Weg 0-5, Johnso 0-1, Dalrymple 0-2), Norwell 10-26 (J. McBride 4-10, A. McBride 3-6, N. McBride 3-10). Rebounds: Adams Central 25, Norwell 29. Turnovers: Adams Central 12, Norwell 11. Fouls: Adams Central 11, Norwell 12. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 45-36 Norwell.
