Purple Tigers outlast Purple Tornado
CORTLAND – It was a game of key runs for the Cortland Purple Tigers on Thursday night, as a critical second-half offensive came at the perfect time and the Tigers outlasted the Tornado 59-48.
It has been a lunch pail, hard hat kind of week for the Tornado who had their third game in six days as they contended with their Section III Class A opponent; Cortland.
The Purple Tornado was propelled early in the first half with consistent and steady offense as Keegan Franklin, Torin Lawrence and Eli Craddock scored eight, seven and five points respectively in the first 16 minutes of play, with 12 of the trios’ most important points coming in the second quarter when Norwich reclaimed the lead before halftime.
Headed into the locker room, Norwich maintained a 28-22 lead. It seemed that the Tornado had the Purple Tigers by the tail headed into the third quarter. Unfortunately for NHS, the Tigers came back and bit them on the hand to open up the second half of play.
The momentum that Norwich had built in the first half didn’t last for long. First came a second-half injury to the Tornado’s Torin Lawrence and Carson Thornton which took both starting NHS guards out of the line-up for a key stretch of the game.
Then only to make matters worse for the Purple Tornado; enter in Cortland senior Noah Armstrong. Armstrong was for all intents and purposes a one man wrecking crew for the Cortland offense, Armstrong would proceed to score 23 second half points to retake the lead for the Tigers.
“We just couldn’t get the momentum back” said Norwich Head Coach Tom Collier, “We got some good looks and couldn’t score, then we started to turn the ball over, and it snowballed”
Armstrong made consecutive drives to the rack in the fourth quarter, becoming the Alpha and Omega for the Cortland offense as he scored 13 of his game-high 30 points in the final minutes. Toss in some very timely shooting from the Tiger’s Jaden Fitch; it was the perfect storm for the hometown Tigers as they held on for the 59-48 victory.
“(Cortland) just started hitting shots that they missed in the second half. We did everything we could effort wise, but in the end we just didn’t have enough,” added Collier, “Credit to Cortland they’re a good team, we hung with them and fell short…we gave a good effort.”
Keegan Franklin led Norwich in scoring with 11 points, Andrew Mullen pitched in 10 points, and Eli Craddock added nine points.
Noah Armstrong led Cortland in scoring with his game-high 30 points, Max Gambitta scored nine points, Jaden Fitch and Colter Gohs added in eight and seven points respectively.
Norwich returns to action when they return to Jack Jones Gymnasium at Norwich High School on Saturday March 6th for their final game of the 2020-2021 basketball season when they take on Edmeston. The season finale for the Purple Tornado will begin at 5:00pm.
N: 12 16 6 14- 48
C: 15 7 14 23- 59
N: Lawrence 3 0-0 7, Thornton 0 5-8 5, Mullen 4 0-0 10, L. Genute 0 0-0 0, Turner 0 0-0 0, Wessels 0 0-0 0, Ragonese 0 0-0 0, Franklin 5 0-0 11, A. Genute 0 0-0 0, Craddock 4 1-2 9, VanHouten 0 0-0 0, Corbin 0 0-0 0, Ford 3 0-0 6.
Totals: 19 6-10 48
C: Armstrong 10 9-11 30, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Yonta 0 0-0 0, Waldbauer 0 0-0 0, Gambitta 3 2-4 9, Fitch 3 1-2 8, Gohs 3 0-1 7, Riley 0 0-0 0, Mussi 0 0-0 0, Leonard 0 0-0 0, Blake 2 1-4 5.
Totals: 21 13-22 59
Three-Pointers: N- Mullen (2), Franklin, Lawrence; C- Armstrong, Gambitta, Fitch, Gohs.
It has been a lunch pail, hard hat kind of week for the Tornado who had their third game in six days as they contended with their Section III Class A opponent; Cortland.
The Purple Tornado was propelled early in the first half with consistent and steady offense as Keegan Franklin, Torin Lawrence and Eli Craddock scored eight, seven and five points respectively in the first 16 minutes of play, with 12 of the trios’ most important points coming in the second quarter when Norwich reclaimed the lead before halftime.
Headed into the locker room, Norwich maintained a 28-22 lead. It seemed that the Tornado had the Purple Tigers by the tail headed into the third quarter. Unfortunately for NHS, the Tigers came back and bit them on the hand to open up the second half of play.
The momentum that Norwich had built in the first half didn’t last for long. First came a second-half injury to the Tornado’s Torin Lawrence and Carson Thornton which took both starting NHS guards out of the line-up for a key stretch of the game.
Then only to make matters worse for the Purple Tornado; enter in Cortland senior Noah Armstrong. Armstrong was for all intents and purposes a one man wrecking crew for the Cortland offense, Armstrong would proceed to score 23 second half points to retake the lead for the Tigers.
“We just couldn’t get the momentum back” said Norwich Head Coach Tom Collier, “We got some good looks and couldn’t score, then we started to turn the ball over, and it snowballed”
Armstrong made consecutive drives to the rack in the fourth quarter, becoming the Alpha and Omega for the Cortland offense as he scored 13 of his game-high 30 points in the final minutes. Toss in some very timely shooting from the Tiger’s Jaden Fitch; it was the perfect storm for the hometown Tigers as they held on for the 59-48 victory.
“(Cortland) just started hitting shots that they missed in the second half. We did everything we could effort wise, but in the end we just didn’t have enough,” added Collier, “Credit to Cortland they’re a good team, we hung with them and fell short…we gave a good effort.”
Keegan Franklin led Norwich in scoring with 11 points, Andrew Mullen pitched in 10 points, and Eli Craddock added nine points.
Noah Armstrong led Cortland in scoring with his game-high 30 points, Max Gambitta scored nine points, Jaden Fitch and Colter Gohs added in eight and seven points respectively.
Norwich returns to action when they return to Jack Jones Gymnasium at Norwich High School on Saturday March 6th for their final game of the 2020-2021 basketball season when they take on Edmeston. The season finale for the Purple Tornado will begin at 5:00pm.
N: 12 16 6 14- 48
C: 15 7 14 23- 59
N: Lawrence 3 0-0 7, Thornton 0 5-8 5, Mullen 4 0-0 10, L. Genute 0 0-0 0, Turner 0 0-0 0, Wessels 0 0-0 0, Ragonese 0 0-0 0, Franklin 5 0-0 11, A. Genute 0 0-0 0, Craddock 4 1-2 9, VanHouten 0 0-0 0, Corbin 0 0-0 0, Ford 3 0-0 6.
Totals: 19 6-10 48
C: Armstrong 10 9-11 30, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Yonta 0 0-0 0, Waldbauer 0 0-0 0, Gambitta 3 2-4 9, Fitch 3 1-2 8, Gohs 3 0-1 7, Riley 0 0-0 0, Mussi 0 0-0 0, Leonard 0 0-0 0, Blake 2 1-4 5.
Totals: 21 13-22 59
Three-Pointers: N- Mullen (2), Franklin, Lawrence; C- Armstrong, Gambitta, Fitch, Gohs.
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