By RYAN WALKER
Norwell’s boys’ basketball team recovered after a sluggish first quarter to defeat Heritage in a trap game on the road 72-48.
The Knights (17-2) were in unfamiliar territory, down by five points to the Patriots (10-8) in the final two minutes of that first quarter, but senior Gavin Hoeppner would come off the bench and nail back-to-back three pointers to take the lead. Teammate Ashton Federspiel would hit one of his own on the ensuing possession, and Norwell had a quick nine-point swing.
“Our bench guys gave us good energy when they came in, Hoeppner, (Luke) Graft, and Federspiel, and the pace quickened a little bit,” Norwell head coach Mike McBride said after the game. “That’s what our depth can do. They can create that a little bit.”
The team shot cold and had most of its four turnovers in the first few minutes. Combine that with Heritage’s Luke Saylor dropping 17 points in the half and couldn’t miss.
A possible cause? Norwell was coming off a 30-point win over Columbia City to earn a share of the Northeast 8 Conference championship and will play Huntington North on Friday to gain sole possession of it.
“I think sometimes, when you get that sandwiched in, sometimes you’re playing conference, conference, conference, and then you add a non-conference,” McBride said. “That can impact your mentality a little bit. I mean, I think you have to give them some credit… but, yeah, that certainly impacts it.”
After the bench spark that started with Hoeppner, Norwell outscored Heritage 59-31. Unfortunately for the Patriots, Saylor, their high-scorer for the game, was injured on an attempted rebound on Norwell’s side of the floor and did not return to the game.
Saylor was 5-10 from the floor and made a pair of threes. Since he left the game, Heritage did not look the same, and Norwell was able to spread out the defense more in response to him leaving the game.
The Knights, on the other hand, had quite the performance shooting the basketball, shooting 51 percent from the floor (42.9 from long range), and proved that its game last week against East Noble was a fluke.
Norwell went ice cold last Saturday in the win and went 4-18 from the three-point line. The team needed to find more ways to get to the bottom of the net. In that game, they were 72 percent from two-point baskets and played a high-intensity defense. Against Heritage, they put all three together.
“The biggest thing is we just want to get good shots, and we feel like if we get good shots, we’re going to shoot a high percentage most of the time. Every once in a while, we might have a game where we don’t shoot it that well. Tonight we shot it pretty good again.”
Luke McBride led the way with 23 points for Norwell and is now four points away from breaking the conference scoring title behind Mitchell Wilson of Columbia City. For the school record, he is now 63 points behind Darin Archbold.
Jake Parker added 14 points, and Graft had nine.
Norwell’s junior varsity team won 39-29, with Adam McBride’s 17 points and Owen Wallis scoring 12.
Norwell will host Huntington North at 7:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10.
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NORWELL 72, HERITAGE 47
At Heritage High School
NORWELL (17-2): Luke McBride 9-16 4-4 23, Jake Parker 6-10 0-0 14, Luke Graft 3-3 3-4 9, Gavin Hoeppner 2-2 0-0 6, Ashton Federspiel 2-3 2-2 7, Lleyton Bailey 2-7 0-0 6, Kaedyn Quintanilla 1-2 0-0 3, Owen Wallis 1-1 0-0 2, Cohen Bailey 1-5 0-1 2, Adam McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Bolyn 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27-52 9-11 72.
HERITAGE (10-8): Luke Saylor 5-10 5-6 17, Landon Lybarger 3-6 0-0 9. Howard Kaiser 3-4 0-0 6, Trevor Prince 3-4 0-0 6, Kobe Meyer 2-6 0-2 5, D’Vontaye Washington 1-5 0-0 2, Caleb Abbot 1-1 0-0 2, Nyles Knapke 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Whitman 0-1 0-0 0, Braden Walter 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-40 5-8 47.
Norwell 24 14 17 17 — 72
Heritage 18 8 12 9 — 47
Three-point FG: Norwell 9-21 (Hoeppner 2-2, Parker 2-4, L. Bailey 2-6, Federspiel 1-1, Quintanilla 1-1, L. McBride 1-5, C. Bailey 0-2), Heritage 6-19 (Lybarger 3-6, Saylor 2-4, Meyer 1-5, Prince 0-1, Whitman 0-1). Rebounds: Norwell 29 (L. Bailey 5, L. McBride 5, Bolyn 5, Hoeppner 3, C. Bailey 3, Federspiel 3, Parker 2, Graft 2, A. McBride 1), Heritage 21 (Washington 6, Saylor 5, Knapke 3, Kaiser 3, Prince 2, Whitman 1, Walter 1). Turnovers: Norwell 4, Heritage 9. Fouls: Norwell 7, Heritage 7. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
