By ANDREW FEEBACK
Three-point shooting proved to be a major factor in Wednesday night’s boys basketball game between the Norwell Knights and the visiting Carroll Chargers.
The Chargers knocked down 10 from beyond the arc, compared to just one by the Knights, and Norwell dropped its season opener 66-49.
There really wasn’t an easy way to defend a very quick and athletic Charger team that could also hit outside shots.
“We were really worried about their penetration,” coach Mike McBride said. “They had some guys who could drive it and were very explosive to the basket. That concerned us, so we really tried to protect that.”
Norwell took an early 10-6 lead, as Carroll wasn’t hitting shots early. But once they got going, there wasn’t much Norwell could do to slow them down.
Long-range buckets from Jairye Sampson, Jaxon Pardon and Cannen Houser led to an 11-0 run in a span of less than two minutes as the Chargers jumped in front.
Two more triples from Sampson and Houser had Carroll up 27-15.
The Chargers took their biggest lead of the game at 41-23 after a three-pointer from Tyler Morris.
“They shot it well in the first half,” McBride said. “I thought the other thing that hurt us in the first half was they had transition layups. Several times, they got the ball out, pushed it up and got a layup, and we just didn’t get back. That’s an area we’ve got to improve on and get better at.”
Seven of Carroll’s treys came in the first half, resulting in a 16-point halftime lead for the visitors.
Norwell attempted just one shot from behind the arc in the first half and finished the game 1 of 6.
“Our gameplan was to go inside,” McBride said. “We made that an emphasis coming in, and we did a good job of that. They have really good defensive length, and they’re very athletic, which caused some problems. We knew this would be a game where we wouldn’t shoot a lot of threes.”
The inside play of Ashton Federspiel allowed Norwell to climb back in it for awhile, with the senior scoring 14 of his team-leading 32 points in the third quarter on 7 of 7 shooting.
The Knights got within six points on two occasions, the second of which came after Federspiel’s three-point play early in the fourth quarter made it 50-44.
“I think he’s in for a big year,” McBride said. “He’s worked really hard, and I think he’s going to be a handful for teams inside. Now, what he’s got to do is understand and recognize when double teams come, he’s got to be able to play out of that. Once we start to see those things happen, you’ll probably start to see us get a little more looks outside.”
Carroll got timely triples from Pardon and Morris to push its lead back to double digits.
Cohen Bailey made Norwell’s only three-pointer of the game to make it 58-49, but the Knights failed to score over the remaining four minutes.
Federspiel’s 32 points led all scorers. Bailey added 11.
Sampson topped the Chargers with 21, while Pardon had 14 and Houser scored 13.
Only four players scored for Norwell in this game, and McBride wants to see someone emerge as a consistent third scoring threat.
“We’ve got a different team this year, and we’ve got to play to our strengths,” he said. “Ashton and Cohen were our two tonight, now we’ve got to get a third guy. Whether that third guy is Cade Shelton, or Adam (McBride), or maybe it’s a different third guy every night, we’ve got to get one more guy to double figures. If we can do that, then I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Norwell will travel to Mississinewa Tuesday night.
The Knights took the JV game 44-33, led by Brady Smith with 16 points and Nick McBride with 11.
CARROLL 66, NORWELL 49
At Norwell
CARROLL (1-0): Jairye Sampson 9-11 0-2 21, Briggs Pardon 1-3 2-2 4, Jaxon Pardon 6-13 0-0 14, Cannen Houser 4-6 2-2 13, Evan Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Morris 2-3 0-0 6, Miles Hering 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Peters 3-4 0-0 6, Paxton Crane 0-3 0-0 0, Brody Fisher 1-2 0-2 2. TOTALS: 26-45 4-8 66.
NORWELL (0-1): Cade Shelton 1-3 0-1 2, Caiden Petrie 0-0 0-0 0, Garry Riley 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Kaedyn Quintanilla 0-1 0-0 0, Adam McBride 1-4 2-4 4, Trace Moser 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Wallis 0-0 0-0 0, Cohen Bailey 4-9 2-2 11, Nick McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Ashton Federspiel 14-21 4-7 32, Ryne Thornton 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-39 8-14 49.
Carroll 17 24 9 16 – 66
Norwell 12 13 16 8 – 49
Three-point Goals: Carroll 10-20 (Houser 3-4, Sampson 3-4, Morris 2-3, Jaxon Pardon 2-7, Fisher 0-1, Crane 0-1), Norwell 1-6 (Bailey 1-3, Adam McBride 0-2, Federspiel 0-1). Rebounds: Carroll 23 (Crane 8, Houser 5, Peters 3, Briggs Pardon 2, Jaxon Pardon 2, Sampson 2, Fisher 1), Norwell 16 (Federspiel 5, Quintanilla 3, Shelton 3, Bailey 3, Adam McBride 2). Turnovers: Carroll 13, Norwell 16. Fouls: Carroll 13, Norwell 11. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Norwell 44, Carroll 33.
