NORWICH – While Norwich has won more Tom Schwan Tournament titles that any other participant, it took six years before the Tornado were able to repeat as champions.
Norwich finished Saturday’s game with Section X’s Massena on a 7-0 run, and backed up its 2008 title win with a 65-56 victory.
“It’s always nice to win this tournament, and it’s important to win in Tom’s memory,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott, who also gained the upper hand on his former college buddy, Massena head coach, Tom Miller. “Our first goal of the season is to win the Schwan Tournament, and we had to beat a very good team to do it.”
Massena found itself down in the neighborhood of 10 points most of the second half. A basket by Taylor Eisner, two free throws from Matt Jenack, and an Eisner three-point play cut the Norwich lead to 58-56 with 3:37 to play.
Tournament MVP, Richie Bonney, ended the Red Raiders’ threat driving to the basket and drawing two foul shots. Bonney made those two – he was 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the game – followed that up with a spot-up jumper after a feed from Derek Hughes, and Hughes capped the game with 3-for-4 foul shooting in the last 65 seconds.
Bonney finished with 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Hughes added 10 to go with 11 assists, and a single-game team-record, four drawn charges. Josh Borfitz tacked on 15 points – nine of those on three-pointers – and handed out eight assists.
“Massena gave us some tough matchups,” Abbott said. “I think a big key was that we were a little bit more creative offensively. They relied a lot on individual talent, and once we were able to get a better grip on that defensively, we made it tougher for them to score.”
Norwich never trailed in the game – or the tournament – and jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the outset, seven of those points coming from Bonney.
Massena was as close as two points in the first half drawing to 31-29 after a Trevor Bacon free throw.
Borfitz scored on a layup after an assist from Hughes, and Hughes nailed a running halfcourt shot at the first-half buzzer upping the margin to seven points at the break.
Along with Bonney, Hughes and Casey Edwards were named to the all-tournament team.
Oxford fell to 0-2 on the season losing to Oneida, 44-36, in the consolation game.
Matt Tamburro’s free throw with 1:41 left gave Oneida a 37-36 lead. Andrew Hornyak had a key offensive rebound putback with 59 seconds left, and Benn DeRocker sealed the win with 4-for-4 foul shooting down the stretch.
Oxford jumped out to a 15-9 first-quarter lead, and still maintained a one-point lead entering the last quarter. “I think we started to tire in the second half,” said Oxford coach Tim Davis, whose club scored just 12 points in the second half. “We started to make passes we shouldn’t have made, and we missed shots we shouldn’t have missed.”
Cory Seiler led the Blackhawks with 15 points.
Norwich used a 20-6 third quarter to open a 28-point lead and cruise to a rare comfortable win over the Blackhawks in Friday’s first-round game.
Norwich hit four of what tied a team-record 11 three-pointers in the quarter. Bonney added seven of his game-high 23 points in the stanza. Five Norwich players – Dennis Oralls, Frank Somich, Jon Foulds, Josh Favaloro, and Zach Martinson – scored their first varsity points on three-point shots.
Edwards added 13 points for the Tornado.
Jeremy Nelson had 12 for Oxford and Seiler 11.
Oxford faces Walton on Wednesday, while Norwich entertains Oneonta, Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Championship Game
Norwich 65, Massena 56
Massena: Matt Jenack, 2 3-4-8; Ben Thomas, 0 0-0-0; Taylor Eisner, 6 2-2-15; Troy Meyers, 1 0-0-2;; JP Dumas, 3 0-1-7; Brady Condlin, 6 2-4-15; Colin Burley, 0 0-0-0; Trevor Bacon, 3 3-6-9. Totals: 21 10-17-56.
NHS: Casey Edwards, 2 1-2-6; Dennis Oralls, 0 0-0-0; Richie Bonney, 7 6-6-21; Josh Borfitz, 6 0-0-15; Seth Thomsen, 2 0-1-4; Jon Foulds, 1 0-0-2; Derek Hughes, 2 4-7-10; Andrew Austin, 2 0-0-5; Zach Martinson, 1 0-0-2. Totals: 23 11-16-65.
Mass. 10 19 17 10–56
NHS 14 22 18 11–65
Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: (N) Edwards, Bonney, Hughes 2, Austin, Borfitz 3, Austin. JV: Massena beat Norwich in OT in consolation game. Officials: Ehrie, Blair.
Consolation Game
Oneida 44, Oxford 36
Oxf: Devin Slater, 0; Jeremy Nelson, 1 0-4-2; Cory Seiler, 5 4-4-15; John Wonka, 0 0-0-0 ; Zach Barry, 4 0-0-8; Booker Davis, 3 1-2-7; Quincy Davis, 2 0-0-4. Totals: 15 5-10-36.
Oneida: Matt Mosack, 0; Matt Durant, 0; Trey Didio, 1 0-0-2; Trevor Haskell, 1 0-2-2; Luke Newton, 0; Jeremy Rodriguez, 0; Ben DeRocker, 3 5-6-12; Matt Tamburro, 0 5-6-5; Eric Riley, 0 2-2-2; Keith Johnson, 2 0-0-4; Andrew Hornyak, 4 3-4-12; Mitch DuBois, 2 1-3-5. Totals: 13 16-23-44
Oxf. 15 9 8 4–36
Onda. 9 7 15 13–44
Fouled out: (Ox) Nelson, Davis. Three-point goals: (O) Seiler, (On) Hornyak, DeRocker. Officials: Haynes, Reynolds.
First Round
Norwich 66, Oxford 35
Oxf: Andrew Pier, 0 0-0-0; Devin Slater, 0 0-0-0; Jeremy Nelson, 6 0-0-12; Cory Seiler, 4 1-4-11; John Wonka, 1 0-0-2; Zach Barry, 3 0-1-6; Chris Covey, 0 0-0-0; Booker Davis, 2 0-0-4; Quincy Davis, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 16 1-5-35.
NHS: Casey Edwards, 5 0-2-13; Dennis Oralls, 2 0-0-5; Richie Bonney, 10 3-6-23; Jacob Kelly, 0 0-0-0; Frank Somich, 1 0-0-3; Josh Borfitz, 3 0-0-8; Seth Thomsen, 0 0-0-0; Jon Foulds, 2 0-0-6; Alex Williams, 0 0-0-0; Derek Hughes, 0 1-2-1; Andrew Austin, 0 1-2-1; Josh Favaloro, 1 0-0-3; Zach Martinson, 1 0-0-3. Totals: 25 5-12-66.
Oxf. 6 13 6 10-35
NHS 14 19 20 13-66
Fouled out: None. Three-point goals: (N) Edwards 3, Borfitz 2, Foulds, 2, Oralls, Somich, Favaloro, Martinson. (O) Seiler. JV: Oxford won 50-31. Officials: Blair, Dadamio.