Norwell defeats Bluffton 38-31 as defense, turnovers are significant
By RICK SPRUNGER
It all came down to turnovers.
Norwell came away with a 38-31 win over Bluffton Friday night because it took better care of the basketball than did the Tigers.
The Knights committed just two offensive miscues all night while Bluffton was turning it over 17 times.
Included in that number were five Bluffton errors in its last seven possessions of the game, a skein that started with the game tied at 29-29.
“You can’t win basketball games with 17 turnovers,” said Bluffton coach Craig Teagle afterwards with a shake of his head.
The pivotal fourth quarter started with Andrew Hunt popping back-to-back three-pointers to get Bluffton that 29-29 tie from a 29-23 deficit at the break.
Ashton Federspiel missed two shots at the basket from underneath, and Bluffton had the ball with a chance to take the lead.
A Cohen Bailey steal led to one of two free throws by Federspiel to inch the Knights in front, 30-29, with 5:11 left.
Both teams missed shots, and Bluffton again had a chance to go into the lead.
But a bad pass underneath led to a Cade Shelton bucket at the other end for a 32-29 game, still just a one-possession affair at 3:22.
Federspiel then stepped in front of another Tiger pass, and Bailey finished at the other end for 34-29.
Tucker Jenkins got Bluffton back to within 34-31 with a pair of free throws at 1:43.
Norwell ran the clock all the way down to 0:33 before Bailey canned a pair of free tosses, then stole the ball in the backcourt and meshed two more at 0:22.
“In the last four minutes, we got the job done,” said Norwell coach Mike McBride, who was not largely pleased with his team’s play.
“We shot 31 percent, and we were 8-for-16 from the line,” complained McBride, whose team was also outrebounded, 22-19.
“That shocks me,” said Teagle about that rebounding number.
“We play with two posts, and [6-5 junior] Kaleb Green was in foul trouble all night.”
He picked up his third foul with 1:52 left in the first quarter and was whistled for number four with still 1:43 remaining in the third.
Hunt was able to pick up the Tigers with three straight bombs from downtown, the first near the end of the third quarter and then those two to start the fourth.
“Sometimes that happens in high school games,” said McBride of his team’s losing track of the 6-1 senior on defense.
“Someone gets hot; and before you know it, there you are (in a 29-29 tie). “But you’ve got to be able to figure out how to win games that are decided by nine points or less, and so far we’ve been able to do that.”
The game started slowly as neither team could find the range early. Norwell missed eight of its first nine shots, Bluffton six of its first seven.
It was just 4-2 for Norwell until Cade Shelton got open under the basket on an inbounds play and Bailey ripped the cords from behind the arc, both in the final 1:06, to give the Knights a 9-2 lead at the break.
Bluffton came out firing in the second quarter with a 9-0 run as Norwell continued to struggle from the field, missing four more shots.
Tucker Jenkins started the rally with a three-point play underneath, Declan Grieser scored underneath, Jenkins dropped in a pair of free throws, and Axton Beste put back his own miss to give Bluffton its only lead of the game, 11-9.
Teagle liked that.
“I’m really glad we battled,” said the first-year Bluffton coach. “We got back in it three times. We were down 9-2, and we came back; we were down 16-11, and we came back; we were down 28-20, and we came back.”
Norwell got back on the positive side of the scoreboard quickly after falling behind.
Federspiel rebounded a Shelton miss to tie the game, Bailey stole the ball and fed McBride for a layup, and McBride followed another Bluffton turnover with a three-pointer for that 16-11 advantage.
Norwell threatened to pull away in the third quarter. McBride started the period with back-to-back threes, then dished to Federspiel underneath for an eight-point lead.
Bluffton, however, got those three triples from Hunt around a lone Norwell free throw to tie the game, and the rest has been told.
McBride was the only player on either side to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting, three of them from behind the arc.
Bailey added nine points, Federspiel eight, and Shelton seven.
“Cohen Bailey was a big key for us,” said the elder McBride later. “He scored nine points, he was 4-for-4 from the line late in the game, and we had him for four steals and four assists.”
The Knights were just 13-for-42 from the floor for a chilly .324 shooting percentage.
Bluffton was a much warmer .478 on 11-for-23 accuracy but put up 18 fewer shots, largely because of the turnover differential.
Bluffton came away with a 36-35 win in the junior varsity game on a three-pointer by Nolan Lambert with 0:09 left.
Benjamin Maggard led Bluffton with 11 points, Lambert added nine, and Eli Bertsch tossed in six, Marshall Gerber five, Coleson Teeple three, and Jude Baumgartner two.
Nick McBride scored 13 points and Caiden Petrie 12 for the Norwell junior varsity team, whichºß also got five points from Will Case, three from Brady Smith, and two from Garry Riley.
NORWELL 38, BLUFFTON 31
NORWELL (5-2): Cade Shelton 3-5 1-6 7, Adam McBride 4-5 0-0 11, Owen Wallis 1-3 1-2 3, Cohen Bailey 2-7 4-4 9, Ashton Federspiel 3-20 2-4 8, Kaedyn Quintanilla 0-1 0-0 0, Brady Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Trace Moser 0-0 0-0 0, Nick McBride 0-1 0-0 0. TOTAL: 13-42 8-16 38.
BLUFFTON (3-3): Eli Garrett 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Wenger 2-4 0-0 6, Tucker Jenkins 1-5 5-5 7, Axton Beste 2-4 0-2 5, Kaleb Green 1-4 0-0 2, Declan Grieser 1-1 0-0 2, Cameron Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Andrew Hunt 3-3 0-0 9. TOTAL: 11-23 5-7 31.
Norwell 9 7 13 9 – 38
Bluffton 2 12 9 8 – 31
Three-point shooting: Norwell 4-11 (A. McBride 3-4, Wallis 0-2, Bailey 1-2, Federspiel 0-1, Quintanilla 0-1), Bluffton 6-9 (Wenger 2-3, Jenkins 0-1, Beste 1-1, Green 0-1, Hunt 3-3). Rebounds: Norwell 19 (Federspiel 11), Bluffton 22 (Jenkins 9, Beste 7). Turnovers: Norwell 2, Bluffton 17. Personal fouls: Norwell 6, Bluffton 18. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Bluffton 36, Norwell 35.
