Hurricanes complete third straight successful season
NORWICH – The Norwich High School boys basketball team completed another successful offseason on Aug. 7-8 finishing 5-2 at the Lemoyne College Team Camp.
“This is the third straight year we have had guys really make an offseason commitment to making themselves better basketball players, which in turn strengthens our team,” said longtime Norwich head coach, Mark Abbott. “We told the guys that as long as they want to be coached, that we will definitely be there to coach them.”
In the spring of 2008, Abbott and assistant coach Tom Collier – along with a lot of help from Tim Borfitz and a couple key community members – formed the Norwich Hurricanes, an AAU organization catering to just Norwich High School players. That first season, forming just a varsity-level team, the Hurricanes went 55-14 and concluded their regular season at 20-4 with a Section IV Class A championship. The next offseason, again with just a varsity level team, the Hurricanes went 51-13 and finished the regular season at 18-4 with a Section IV Class B runner-up finish.
“There is absolutely no question in our minds that forming the Hurricanes greatly enhanced our returning players, so we decided to be a little bold and take the next step,” Abbott said explaining the benefits of AAU basketball.
And that next step was to add two more teams with Dennis Oralls taking over as the key component in the Hurricane organization. “To be able to fill three teams with just Norwich guys is quite a testament to the types of players, and families, we are fortunate to have here in Norwich,” Abbott said. “Many programs, not only in our section, but around the state, are very impressed with what we are able to do. But we could never do it without interested players and extremely supportive families, that is the foundation of it all. “And, of course, Tom and I are very thankful to have such supportive spouses also.”
In pool play at Lemoyne on Saturday, the team was matched up with three AA schools losing by two points at the buzzer to a big Bethlehem (Albany) team, rallying from 13 points down to beat Massena by three, and topping Fayetteville-Manlius by eight. On Sunday, they beat Avon by three, Thousand Islands by 15, and Fulton by 16 before being eliminated by perennial state power Jamesville-Dewitt, 55-46.
The Hurricanes participated in two summer leagues at the Norwich YMCA and at Binghamton University, and went a combined 21-6. They played in four Team Camps, including hosting one of their own and went 15-4, and played a full AAU schedule in the spring, many times going up against area all star teams as opposed to individual schools, and went 12-7 for an overall record of 48-17.
Varsity players were seniors Josh Favaloro, Jon Foulds, Jacob Kelly, Zach Martinson and Frank Somich, juniors Nate Ashton, Mackay Hotaling, Dennis Oralls, Patrick Taylor, Grady Thompson, Seth Thomsen, Eric Walling and Ian Weaver, and sophomore Kyle Edwards.
“This is the third straight year we have had guys really make an offseason commitment to making themselves better basketball players, which in turn strengthens our team,” said longtime Norwich head coach, Mark Abbott. “We told the guys that as long as they want to be coached, that we will definitely be there to coach them.”
In the spring of 2008, Abbott and assistant coach Tom Collier – along with a lot of help from Tim Borfitz and a couple key community members – formed the Norwich Hurricanes, an AAU organization catering to just Norwich High School players. That first season, forming just a varsity-level team, the Hurricanes went 55-14 and concluded their regular season at 20-4 with a Section IV Class A championship. The next offseason, again with just a varsity level team, the Hurricanes went 51-13 and finished the regular season at 18-4 with a Section IV Class B runner-up finish.
“There is absolutely no question in our minds that forming the Hurricanes greatly enhanced our returning players, so we decided to be a little bold and take the next step,” Abbott said explaining the benefits of AAU basketball.
And that next step was to add two more teams with Dennis Oralls taking over as the key component in the Hurricane organization. “To be able to fill three teams with just Norwich guys is quite a testament to the types of players, and families, we are fortunate to have here in Norwich,” Abbott said. “Many programs, not only in our section, but around the state, are very impressed with what we are able to do. But we could never do it without interested players and extremely supportive families, that is the foundation of it all. “And, of course, Tom and I are very thankful to have such supportive spouses also.”
In pool play at Lemoyne on Saturday, the team was matched up with three AA schools losing by two points at the buzzer to a big Bethlehem (Albany) team, rallying from 13 points down to beat Massena by three, and topping Fayetteville-Manlius by eight. On Sunday, they beat Avon by three, Thousand Islands by 15, and Fulton by 16 before being eliminated by perennial state power Jamesville-Dewitt, 55-46.
The Hurricanes participated in two summer leagues at the Norwich YMCA and at Binghamton University, and went a combined 21-6. They played in four Team Camps, including hosting one of their own and went 15-4, and played a full AAU schedule in the spring, many times going up against area all star teams as opposed to individual schools, and went 12-7 for an overall record of 48-17.
Varsity players were seniors Josh Favaloro, Jon Foulds, Jacob Kelly, Zach Martinson and Frank Somich, juniors Nate Ashton, Mackay Hotaling, Dennis Oralls, Patrick Taylor, Grady Thompson, Seth Thomsen, Eric Walling and Ian Weaver, and sophomore Kyle Edwards.
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