Boys’ Basketball

Norwich 59, Owego 53

NORWICH – Close games have not always been kind to Norwich this season. Wednesday, on senior recognition night, those close-game woes changed.

The Tornado rallied from six points down in the fourth quarter outscoring the Indians 23-11 in the final period to grab their tenth win of the season.

“Persistency won this game...it’s almost as if we refused to lose,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “We kept missing shot after shot, but we found a way to hang around and we were able to finish.”

Nate Foote scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter including a three-pointer with 2:18 to play that put Norwich ahead to stay, 52-51. Foote added a key jumper with 33 seconds left upping the margin to 57-53 and canceling out Owego’s victory hopes.

Wade Kornegay, making his first varsity start, had two big steals in the fourth quarter scoring five of his career-high 13 points. Robert Martin led Norwich in scoring for the eighth straight game finishing with 21. “We had some guys who haven’t played much come in and play extremely well,” Abbott said. “Wade did a nice job, Craig Berg came in and gave us some good minutes, and Chris Mattingly, even though he didn’t score, gave us a lift. We played with a lot of heart. It’s not always pretty or effective, but the effort is always there.”