Boys’ Basketball

Norwich 45, Chenango Forks 33

CHENANGO FORKS – Norwich coach Mark Abbott lauded Chenango Forks defense. His team’s defense is not too bad itself.

The Tornado won their third straight STAC game on the road Monday night, and held the opposition under 40 points for the third time in six games. “Chenango Forks played tough defensively,” Abbott said. “We did fine on offense when we realized we were the purple shirts and not the white ones. We had the bad tendency tonight to turn it over, which we haven’t done all season.”

The Tornado (4-2) closed out the first half with a devastating 8-0 run over a 20-second span to create big momentum. Three straight Forks turnovers led to a Justin Ballin layup and two Josh Borfitz three balls. Borfitz’s second three came at the second-quarter buzzer to turn an 18-16 game into a 10-point NHS lead.

“Their coach was calling for the last shot, then in the span of 20 seconds, we forced three turnovers and were up 10 points. It was a huge sequence for us,” Abbott said.

Patrick Coates had 13 points, and the Norwich defense remained especially stingy on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Through six games, Norwich has given up more than 14 points in just one quarter all season. “The outcome was not really in doubt tonight, but the turnovers bothered me,” Abbott said. “Three league wins in a row on the road, you cannot complain about that.”