Westhill Warriors trample Norwich for third time in five years; advance to state final-four
Frank Speziale Photo
SYRACUSE – The powerful and always dangerous Westhill Warriors hailing from Syracuse have punched their ticket to yet another final-four appearance in the New York State boys basketball state playoffs – following their 73-54 dismantling of the Norwich Purple Tornado.
“We came up short last year, so we have some unfinished business to finish up. We're going to work hard this week and get ready to play next weekend,” said Westhill junior Sean Dadey. “Last season was tough, we had some injuries so we came up short. But this year's team is special and anybody is capable of having a big game so that is why we are going to go far.”
And that is exactly what the Warriors did in the quarterfinals of the NYS Class B playoffs on Saturday, March 11, when Norwich came to town – spread the ball around while playing solid defense. Through this process Westhill managed to have five players hit double-digit figures in scoring for the game – with Dadey leading the way at 16 points.
“Four or five guys today were in double figures so we are really more of an unselfish team that anybody is capable of scoring in the high numbers, so it's special,” said Dadey following his team leading performance in the win.
In the execution of the game plans from both squads, Norwich senior Chris Jeffrey – Norwich's leading scorer in their past few games through the Section IV Class B tournament – was limited to a mere nine points in the loss to Westhill.
“We played them exactly how we wanted in the first half. We wanted to keep them out of transition and make them make contested shots. Unfortunately they made those contested shots at a very high rate,” said Norwich head coach Brian Collier. “Thus we played closer and they got us with backdoor cuts, so it became a pick your poison. Offensively we scored early with good execution, but they picked up their physicality on our drives and in the post and we had a hard time adjusting.”
With tip-off underway at 1 p.m. this past Saturday, all was laid out on the line for the two hopeful state playoff teams – Norwich (Section IV champs ranked 24th in the state at 17-5) and Westhill (Section III champs ranked 2nd in the state at 22-1).
Much like Collier attested, Norwich came out blazing in the first period – grabbing their first lead of the night when Norwich senior Tre Bonham dropped his first of two three-pointers :34 seconds into the game to take the 3-2 lead. Fellow senior – Jeffrey – looked to find the scorebook early when he added two more points for the Tornado with 7:03 left in the first period – extending the Norwich lead to 5-2.
Unfortunately for the hopeful Norwich players and their faithful crowd of fans – who notably made up a majority of the fans in attendance at Onondaga Community College – that would be the final time in the game that Norwich scored while holding a lead.
Dadey dropped in a field goal at 6:52 – a mere :11 seconds after Jeffrey scored – cutting into the lead. Fellow Warrior, senior Antonio Scrimale, stole a pass in the next possession, racing down the court for the basket to reclaim the Westhill lead at 6-5 with 6:30 left to play still in the first period.
Norwich led second-ranked for a combined :56 seconds in the game – essentially the top-ranked team after top-seeded 24-0 Glens Falls was upset by 19th ranked Canton on March 7, 87-63.
Following their hot start, followed by a late Westhill push, Norwich headed into the second half down just 23-17.
The following two periods surrounding the halftime break proved to be the breaking point for the Tornado, as the Warriors attacked often to truly pull away on the scoreboard.
“Close to it, yeah probably.” Said Westhill senior Kameren Jackson who contributed 10 points in the win when asked if Westhill played their best game of basketball during the 73-54 win – before following it up with how it feels to move onto the final-four. “Feels great, but it doesn’t feel like anything new honestly. It still feels like the regular season to me, until next week.”
Westhill – who fell short of a state final-four last year – is a team who had won the NYS Class B state title most recently in 2010, 2014, and in 2015, before Olean of Section VI won in 2016 defeating Marlboro 56-45.
“We really shut them down offensively, we played great defense. We got out in transition and played our game, which is where a lot of our points came from. We just got to keep working hard. With defense comes offense, so we get down and really dig down on defense and we'll really get to play our game in transition,” said Dadey. “Well we are thinking ahead, not too far but to the next game. We have to focus on each possession, we're not really looking at the bigger picture but more each game, and really get ready to play each possession.
Westhill played continued their dominance in the second period of play, a period which saw them pour on an additional 23 points to take the halftime score to 46-27.
A big contributor in the win over Norwich was the long-ball, coach Collier said that Norwich was hoping to force contested shots. Westhill answered that call from the perimeter – shooting an impressive 46.7 percent from beyond the arch, as they managed seven of 15 to Norwich's three of 15. This 21-point swing was enough to sway the outcome of the game – as without the seven three-point shots it would have been a Norwich victory at 54-52.
Instead, Norwich limped into the half – scoring just 10 second period points. When emerging, Norwich was again stifled on the offensive end of the court, as they were again held to just 10 points in the third period. In the Tornado's defense, they indeed improved in the second half on the defensive end – limiting Westhill to 15 third-period points – taking the game to a 61-37 heading into the final period.
“Definitely defense, we came out stronger in the first half. The second half we got kind of trigger happy, but we still came out going, so that's all that really matters,” said Westhill's Jackson of the mentality and focus going forward. “Just defense, we just have to keep up the D and we'll win games. That's really it.”
With eight minutes to play and the 2016-2017 season on the line Norwich would put forth their best effort's for what would prove to be the final time playing on a high school basketball court for Norwich's six seniors: Ky'sawn 'Pop' Veale, Rodney 'Tre' Bonham, Dashawn King, Chris Brown, Alex Wehrli, and Chris Jeffrey.
Balling out one final time – senior's King (eight-points) Jeffrey (five-points) and Bonham (two-points) combined for 15 of Norwich's 17 final-period points – as King truly stamped his name into the game as Norwich's leading scorer in the game with 19 points and a steal turned dunk with 2:44 left in the period, marking his final field goal for the Tornado in fashion. The two remaining points scored in the game for Norwich were scored by one of the Tornado's soon-to-be hopeful stars in JT Vinal – the final score of the game which took Norwich to their 54th point, and final loss of the season.
Contributing heavily in the game was of course King's game-high 19 points with seven rebounds, Bonham's 10 points and two rebounds, Jeffrey's nine points and six rebounds, and Veale's eight points and three rebounds.
When the final buzzer rang shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, it marked the end of a storied season for the Norwich Purple Tornado – while the Westhill Warriors furthered their season at least one more game. Despite the loss, and subsequent end to the season, Norwich did outscore Westhill 17-12 down the stretch. With the win, Westhill moves to 3-0 against the Tornado in the state quarterfinals in the last five years.
“I think many people forget how difficult it is to win a sectional championship considering our recent success. The season was very successful, and I believe this group came further basketball wise and maturity wise than any team we have had,” said coach Collier. “We lost six of our top-eight players from last year, I do not think many people believed we would have accomplished what we did. It is a testament to the character of this group to overcome that loss and the adversity we dealt with throughout the season.”
Norwich wraps up their fantastic 2016-2017 season as the Section IV Class B champions – making it further into the playoffs than any other Chenango County basketball team – while finishing the season with an overall record of 17-6.
“In the state playoffs if you are not at the top of your game that day, then it is very difficult to win, and that is what happened against Westhill,” said coach Collier. “They are the number one team in the state for a reason. Westhill is a tremendous team both in terms of players and coaches. They were better than us today and deserved to win. We battled to the end but it just was not meant to be for our team.”
Westhill (23-1 overall) now move on to the semifinals of the NYSPHSAA championships. Westhill plays Center Moriches (21-4 overall) out of Section XI, on Friday, March 17, at 7:15 p.m. The other semifinal Class B matchup is between Section VI's Health Sciences (21-4 overall) and Section X's Canton (22-5), when the teams play at 5:30 p.m. Both semifinals and the finals (9 p.m.) the next day Saturday, March 18, will be played in Binghamton at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Arena.
N: 17 10 10 17– 54
W: 23 23 15 12– 73
Norwich: Michael Trevisani 0 0-0 0, Ky'sawn Veale 3 1-2 8, Tre Bonham 4 0-0 10, Michael Carson 2 0-0 4, Marcus Cashman 1 0-0 2, Dashawn King 9 1-2 19, Chris Brown 0 0-0 0, JT Vinal 1 0-0 2, Marcus Benjamin 0 0-0 0, Chris Jeffrey 4 1-2 9, Skylar Wenzel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 3-6 54.
Westhill: Zechariah Brown 4 2-2 13, Holden Carroll 0 0-0 0, Sean Dadey 6 2-2 16, Braeden Elmer 5 0-0 10, Corey Frassica 0 0-0 0, John Geer 5 0-0 11, Kameren Jackson 3 2-2 8, Jordan Marcano 0 0-0 0, Owen Matukas 2 1-6 5, Antonio Scrimale 4 1-1 10, EJ Zawadzki 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 8-13 73.
Three-pointers: N– Bonham 2, Veale 1; W– Brown 3, Dadey 2, Geer 1, Scrimale 1.
SYRACUSE – The powerful and always dangerous Westhill Warriors hailing from Syracuse have punched their ticket to yet another final-four appearance in the New York State boys basketball state playoffs – following their 73-54 dismantling of the Norwich Purple Tornado.
“We came up short last year, so we have some unfinished business to finish up. We're going to work hard this week and get ready to play next weekend,” said Westhill junior Sean Dadey. “Last season was tough, we had some injuries so we came up short. But this year's team is special and anybody is capable of having a big game so that is why we are going to go far.”
And that is exactly what the Warriors did in the quarterfinals of the NYS Class B playoffs on Saturday, March 11, when Norwich came to town – spread the ball around while playing solid defense. Through this process Westhill managed to have five players hit double-digit figures in scoring for the game – with Dadey leading the way at 16 points.
“Four or five guys today were in double figures so we are really more of an unselfish team that anybody is capable of scoring in the high numbers, so it's special,” said Dadey following his team leading performance in the win.
In the execution of the game plans from both squads, Norwich senior Chris Jeffrey – Norwich's leading scorer in their past few games through the Section IV Class B tournament – was limited to a mere nine points in the loss to Westhill.
“We played them exactly how we wanted in the first half. We wanted to keep them out of transition and make them make contested shots. Unfortunately they made those contested shots at a very high rate,” said Norwich head coach Brian Collier. “Thus we played closer and they got us with backdoor cuts, so it became a pick your poison. Offensively we scored early with good execution, but they picked up their physicality on our drives and in the post and we had a hard time adjusting.”
With tip-off underway at 1 p.m. this past Saturday, all was laid out on the line for the two hopeful state playoff teams – Norwich (Section IV champs ranked 24th in the state at 17-5) and Westhill (Section III champs ranked 2nd in the state at 22-1).
Much like Collier attested, Norwich came out blazing in the first period – grabbing their first lead of the night when Norwich senior Tre Bonham dropped his first of two three-pointers :34 seconds into the game to take the 3-2 lead. Fellow senior – Jeffrey – looked to find the scorebook early when he added two more points for the Tornado with 7:03 left in the first period – extending the Norwich lead to 5-2.
Unfortunately for the hopeful Norwich players and their faithful crowd of fans – who notably made up a majority of the fans in attendance at Onondaga Community College – that would be the final time in the game that Norwich scored while holding a lead.
Dadey dropped in a field goal at 6:52 – a mere :11 seconds after Jeffrey scored – cutting into the lead. Fellow Warrior, senior Antonio Scrimale, stole a pass in the next possession, racing down the court for the basket to reclaim the Westhill lead at 6-5 with 6:30 left to play still in the first period.
Norwich led second-ranked for a combined :56 seconds in the game – essentially the top-ranked team after top-seeded 24-0 Glens Falls was upset by 19th ranked Canton on March 7, 87-63.
Following their hot start, followed by a late Westhill push, Norwich headed into the second half down just 23-17.
The following two periods surrounding the halftime break proved to be the breaking point for the Tornado, as the Warriors attacked often to truly pull away on the scoreboard.
“Close to it, yeah probably.” Said Westhill senior Kameren Jackson who contributed 10 points in the win when asked if Westhill played their best game of basketball during the 73-54 win – before following it up with how it feels to move onto the final-four. “Feels great, but it doesn’t feel like anything new honestly. It still feels like the regular season to me, until next week.”
Westhill – who fell short of a state final-four last year – is a team who had won the NYS Class B state title most recently in 2010, 2014, and in 2015, before Olean of Section VI won in 2016 defeating Marlboro 56-45.
“We really shut them down offensively, we played great defense. We got out in transition and played our game, which is where a lot of our points came from. We just got to keep working hard. With defense comes offense, so we get down and really dig down on defense and we'll really get to play our game in transition,” said Dadey. “Well we are thinking ahead, not too far but to the next game. We have to focus on each possession, we're not really looking at the bigger picture but more each game, and really get ready to play each possession.
Westhill played continued their dominance in the second period of play, a period which saw them pour on an additional 23 points to take the halftime score to 46-27.
A big contributor in the win over Norwich was the long-ball, coach Collier said that Norwich was hoping to force contested shots. Westhill answered that call from the perimeter – shooting an impressive 46.7 percent from beyond the arch, as they managed seven of 15 to Norwich's three of 15. This 21-point swing was enough to sway the outcome of the game – as without the seven three-point shots it would have been a Norwich victory at 54-52.
Instead, Norwich limped into the half – scoring just 10 second period points. When emerging, Norwich was again stifled on the offensive end of the court, as they were again held to just 10 points in the third period. In the Tornado's defense, they indeed improved in the second half on the defensive end – limiting Westhill to 15 third-period points – taking the game to a 61-37 heading into the final period.
“Definitely defense, we came out stronger in the first half. The second half we got kind of trigger happy, but we still came out going, so that's all that really matters,” said Westhill's Jackson of the mentality and focus going forward. “Just defense, we just have to keep up the D and we'll win games. That's really it.”
With eight minutes to play and the 2016-2017 season on the line Norwich would put forth their best effort's for what would prove to be the final time playing on a high school basketball court for Norwich's six seniors: Ky'sawn 'Pop' Veale, Rodney 'Tre' Bonham, Dashawn King, Chris Brown, Alex Wehrli, and Chris Jeffrey.
Balling out one final time – senior's King (eight-points) Jeffrey (five-points) and Bonham (two-points) combined for 15 of Norwich's 17 final-period points – as King truly stamped his name into the game as Norwich's leading scorer in the game with 19 points and a steal turned dunk with 2:44 left in the period, marking his final field goal for the Tornado in fashion. The two remaining points scored in the game for Norwich were scored by one of the Tornado's soon-to-be hopeful stars in JT Vinal – the final score of the game which took Norwich to their 54th point, and final loss of the season.
Contributing heavily in the game was of course King's game-high 19 points with seven rebounds, Bonham's 10 points and two rebounds, Jeffrey's nine points and six rebounds, and Veale's eight points and three rebounds.
When the final buzzer rang shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, it marked the end of a storied season for the Norwich Purple Tornado – while the Westhill Warriors furthered their season at least one more game. Despite the loss, and subsequent end to the season, Norwich did outscore Westhill 17-12 down the stretch. With the win, Westhill moves to 3-0 against the Tornado in the state quarterfinals in the last five years.
“I think many people forget how difficult it is to win a sectional championship considering our recent success. The season was very successful, and I believe this group came further basketball wise and maturity wise than any team we have had,” said coach Collier. “We lost six of our top-eight players from last year, I do not think many people believed we would have accomplished what we did. It is a testament to the character of this group to overcome that loss and the adversity we dealt with throughout the season.”
Norwich wraps up their fantastic 2016-2017 season as the Section IV Class B champions – making it further into the playoffs than any other Chenango County basketball team – while finishing the season with an overall record of 17-6.
“In the state playoffs if you are not at the top of your game that day, then it is very difficult to win, and that is what happened against Westhill,” said coach Collier. “They are the number one team in the state for a reason. Westhill is a tremendous team both in terms of players and coaches. They were better than us today and deserved to win. We battled to the end but it just was not meant to be for our team.”
Westhill (23-1 overall) now move on to the semifinals of the NYSPHSAA championships. Westhill plays Center Moriches (21-4 overall) out of Section XI, on Friday, March 17, at 7:15 p.m. The other semifinal Class B matchup is between Section VI's Health Sciences (21-4 overall) and Section X's Canton (22-5), when the teams play at 5:30 p.m. Both semifinals and the finals (9 p.m.) the next day Saturday, March 18, will be played in Binghamton at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Arena.
N: 17 10 10 17– 54
W: 23 23 15 12– 73
Norwich: Michael Trevisani 0 0-0 0, Ky'sawn Veale 3 1-2 8, Tre Bonham 4 0-0 10, Michael Carson 2 0-0 4, Marcus Cashman 1 0-0 2, Dashawn King 9 1-2 19, Chris Brown 0 0-0 0, JT Vinal 1 0-0 2, Marcus Benjamin 0 0-0 0, Chris Jeffrey 4 1-2 9, Skylar Wenzel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 3-6 54.
Westhill: Zechariah Brown 4 2-2 13, Holden Carroll 0 0-0 0, Sean Dadey 6 2-2 16, Braeden Elmer 5 0-0 10, Corey Frassica 0 0-0 0, John Geer 5 0-0 11, Kameren Jackson 3 2-2 8, Jordan Marcano 0 0-0 0, Owen Matukas 2 1-6 5, Antonio Scrimale 4 1-1 10, EJ Zawadzki 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 8-13 73.
Three-pointers: N– Bonham 2, Veale 1; W– Brown 3, Dadey 2, Geer 1, Scrimale 1.
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