Tom Collier spent a good portion of his Sunday on the phone. When he left the house for routine errands, he was often stopped by faithful Norwich basketball patrons.
One of the first questions Collier had to answer in every conversation was, "what happened?"
Those who regularly read our sports page know that Collier's charges fell in the Section IV boys' basketball playoffs this past Saturday night to Chenango Valley, 65-62.
This reporter wasn't at Norwich High School. Instead, I was covering the state championship victories of NHS senior wrestlers Frankie Garcia and Tristan Rifanburg at the Times Union Arena in Albany. I followed the game updates on Twitter, and just a moment before I posted a Twitter update of Garcia winning his second state title, my Twitter feed displayed a Chenango Valley 65-62 win over Norwich.
I wasn't completely shocked, although the result was a case of history repeating itself. The last Norwich home playoff game I missed was in February, 2011, and Norwich lost that game to Johnson City. Again, I was covering the state wrestling tournament, and again, Tristan Rifanburg was center stage.
Earlier this year I dug out a statistic and mentioned it to Collier. News traveled fast as that statistic was recited by a number of people back to the source – me. Until its loss at Oneonta last month, Norwich had won 44 straight games against Section IV Class B teams.
That streak went by the wayside, but there was still a home winning streak against Class B schools that remained intact. I was about to chart that number this week, and throw that out to readers for discussion around the water cooler.
Seeing as Norwich just lost at home to a Class B school, figuring out how many home games Norwich won in a row now seems pointless.
Before Collier got into the nuts and bolts of the game, he credited the performance of Chenango Valley. In his four years as head coach, Norwich had not lost to the Warriors. "They played probably the best they've played all season," Collier said.
Chenango Valley had five losses the entire season, two of those to Norwich. All five of Chenango Valley's starters are threats to score, and all 65 points were scored by those five starters.
Zero points from the bench.
Collier took the dismay over the unexpected loss in stride, and even saw the silver lining.
"People are shocked when we lose, we don't lose that much," Collier said, who has guided Norwich to a 69-16 record in four seasons as head coach. "It's good to have established that winning tradition. Everyone we face brings their top game, and you accept that when you raise the bar in a program. We were a good program when I walked in. We want to be the best, and we're not afraid to tell people we want to be the best."
The lesson learned from the Saturday's loss is that you "can't win 'em all."
Sometimes, you have to tip your cap to the other team. Although Norwich was eight points better than Chenango Valley the first time the two teams met, and 22 points better in the rematch in early February, the Warriors were three points better than Norwich in the game that mattered most.
"Chenango Valley deserved to win the game," Collier said. "That is the reality."
Accepting that reality will be tough to swallow, especially for Norwich's outgoing seniors Zan Stewart, Michael Oralls, Chris Trevisani, and Colin Stewart. Zan Stewart and Oralls played three years on the varsity level and were part of 53 wins, three division champions, two STAC champions, and two Section IV Class B champions.
That is a reality those young men can treasure for a lifetime.

Follow Newell on Twitter @PatrickLNewell