By RYAN WALKER
The McBride’s 41, Missisnewa 34.
There’s no typo there, as brothers Josh (15), Adam (14) and Nick (12) McBride tallied all 41 points for the Knights’ (1-1) first victory of the season in the home opener.
Norwell played its typical suffocating defense and game of keep away in the fourth quarter that it pattened last season.
In the second quarter, following a 12-12, the Knights outscored the Indians (1-2) 9-0. That mega-drought lasted a full 10 minutes and 41 seconds. Even in the third quarter, both teams managed just five measly points each, but Missisinewa made it interesting in the final quarter of play.
The Knights played the long game, taking their time within the offense and draining precious seconds from the clock. The Indians, though, eventually got fed up with their five points through the second and third quarters.
The Indians scored the most points (17) in the fourth quarter, and it all began with a bucket from Tyvon Jacobs on his only shot of the night and Ian Newsom’s three — that stretched them out to a four-point deficit.
By then, head coach Mike McBride’s strategy was fully in play: get as close to the bonus as they could.
“We wanted to get ourselves to the bonus,” McBride said. “And we come out, and within the first two minutes we already have three fouls on them and that was really important for us because then, you can dictate some things.”
It paid off in a big way. Six of the Knights’ points in the quarter were from the charity stripe. It allowed them to ice the game on numerous occasions. No matter how strong the Indian’s comeback was, the Knights responded.
Another attempt was by way of Newsom’s second three of the night. That was answered by Josh McBride’s bucket and free throws.
Then, it was Mississnewa’s defense’s turn to try. A pair of turnovers turned into a three-point swing. But that was answered again — this time by Nick McBride’s and Adam McBride’s free throws for four points. That got the score to 36-28.
A Rayveon Fetz three inched closer for Mississnewa. Following more free throws for Norwell, the Indians picked up two more turnovers with under a minute to play in the game. The score was 37-34, and Garry Riley just fouled out.
Mississinewa called a timeout when its own Kiontaye Woods split two free-throw attempts. That gave Mike McBride time to cook.
Taking the ball out of bounds, two Knights’ players flashed to the ball and picked up the screen with a switch that coach McBride wanted. Then, Adam bolted on a seam toward the opposing basket and had a step on his defender. Owen Wallis threw a football pass on a dime and McBride hit the layup to score the two points. That was the ballgame.
“(Owen) just made a great pass, Adam makes a great catch and he gets a layup. All of those things have to go that way, but you got to practice it though,” coach McBride said. “It’s something we practice. It’s not just like we just drew it up and said, ‘Hey, go hit it.’”
Despite the lack of point distribution, Norwell found a way to use its defense to create transition buckets and making all 13 of those shots count.
Riley and Wallis made an impact aside from the stat sheet and received praise from their coach for their efforts. But in their increased roles on the varsity roster, he’d like to get them going on the other side of the ball too.
“They’ve got to attack a little bit more,” coach McBride said. “We need those two to continue to attack, I think that will be a key for us. We’re going to need a little bit more contributions there, definitely. We’re looking for that. We’re not even running a lot of sets — we’re kind of playing out of motion most of the time. That kind of frees everything up.”
Norwell won the junior varsity game 39-18. Trey Privett scored a team-high 13 points while Cade Thornton scored eight. Norwell won the freshman contest 53-25.
Norwell will host Oak Hill at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.
sports@news-banner.com
NORWELL 41, MISSISSINEWA 34
At Norwell
MISSISSINEWA (1-2): Ian Newsom 5-9 0-2 12, Rayveon Fetz 3-11 3-4 11, Grady Schnepp 1-1 1-2 4, Kiontaye Woods 1-1 1-3 3, Tyvon Jacobs 1-1 0-0 2, Seuth Yoder 1-5 0-0 2, Davion Speikes 0-1 0-0 0, Daylin Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Madden Corey 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 12-29 5-11 34.
NORWELL (1-1): Josh McBride 5-12 3-4 15, Adam McBride 5-14 3-4 14, Nick McBride 3-6 4-4 12, Owen Wallis 0-1 0-0 0, Garry Riley 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Comer 0-0 0-0 0, Ryne Thornton 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-34 10-12 41.
Mississinewa 12 0 5 17 — 34
Norwell 12 9 5 15 — 41
Three-point Shooting: Mississnewa 5-17 (Newsom 2-5, Fetz 2-7, Schnepp 1-1, Yoder 0-3, Speikes 0-1), Norwell 5-16 (J. McBride 2-4, N. McBride 2-5, A. McBride 1-7). Rebounds: Mississnewa 23 (Fetz 6, Woods 4, Newsom 3, Schnepp 3, Jacobs 2, Yoder 1, Speikes 1), Norwell 22 (J. McBride 9, A. McBride 5, Wallis 2, Riley 2, N. McBride 2). Turnovers: Mississnewa 17, Norwell 9. Fouls: Mississnewa 14, Norwell 13. Fouled Out: Norwell Garry Riley. Technicals: None.
JV: 39-18 Norwell.
Freshman: 53-25.
