Are you watching closely? I am, and you should, too.
If you’re any kind of Norwich basketball fan, you know the boys’ basketball team’s recent history: Three straight Section IV titles, followed by three straight losses to Section III teams in the first round of the state playoffs.
The last two defeats were administered by Westhill, a Section III power with multiple state championships. By any measure, Norwich was nearly the equal of the Warriors losing by one point in 2013 and by three points in overtime this past March.
Subsequently, Westhill went on to win the 2014 state title, and followed that up with a Federation championship to cap a 27-0 season. At no instant during those 27 wins was Westhill any closer to defeat than its Central New York regional finals game against Norwich.
If Zan Stewart’s three-pointer at the buzzer rattles in instead of out, we might be talking about Norwich’s unbeaten state championship.
Over the course of 2013-2014 season, it seemed like Norwich and Westhill were on a collision course to reboot the March, 2013 classic. It was just a matter of each team doing its part, and each roster was indeed on point during the postseason to set up another terrific clash.
As a member of the media charged with reporting the happenings of local basketball teams, I occasionally glanced at Westhill’s progress last season. The Warriors returned nearly everyone from the previous team, and thrashed one opponent after another on their way to a redux with Purple Tornado.
Similarly, Norwich had few road bumps. There was the first meeting with Oneonta – Norwich’s first game, and in a heated environment – that wound up becoming a two-possession game.
Three weeks later, Norwich survived a scare from New York Mills rallying in the fourth quarter for the Stop DWI title. Turns out, New York Mills did not lose again, and no one was even close to beating it on the way to a Class D state championship.
Knowing that Norwich is again primed for a state playoff run – and Westhill is again loaded with state championship players – I am closely scrutinizing every game Westhill is playing this winter.
So this past week, I noted the similar ways in which both clubs dispatched weak opposition. No, they weren’t mere blowouts, they were obliterations defying proper explanation. And it was a clearcut example of “whatever you can do, I can do better.”
Westhill won its opening two games with ease, then the Warriors were recently assigned league foe Hannibal. Final score: Westhill 70, Hannibal 13.
“Wow,” I thought. I know Westhill is good – really good - but how can a varsity basketball team in the shot clock era score just 13 points? Westhill was obviously playing its second and third string when the game was out of reach, so 13 points? Really?
Days later, Tuesday, Dec. 23, Norwich played its home-opener against Owego. The Purple Tornado were tested by Chenango Valley in their previous outing, so what transpired over four quarters earlier this week was beyond my expectation.
Norwich allowed just 12 points in the first half, while scoring 51, then surrendered just two field goals the entire second half to the Indians, and 18 total points in the game. It was the fewest points a Norwich team has allowed since the introduction of the shot clock, and it’s the lowest total allowed by a Norwich team in my lifetime.
Westhill threw down the gauntlet giving up points in the teens and winning by 57. Norwich’s retort: A win by a whopping 71 points.
Westhill, your move.