Boys’ Basketball

Norwich 59, Maine-Endwell 42

NORWICH – Norwich was able to breathe a bit deeper and a whole heck of a lot easier in its return meeting with Maine-Endwell Tuesday evening.

Justin Ballin and Cory Dietrich came off the Tornado bench to score 12 and 10 points respectively in a 17-point STAC Central Division win. It was a far cry from the December meeting at M-E when Norwich escaped with a 67-64 win.

“To win by basically 20 points and hold them to 42 is a great effort by our guys,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “I thought we did a tremendous job in the second half.”

Norwich built a lead in the second quarter to as many as 14 points getting seven points in the stanza from Timmy Clark. Patrick Coates’ two foul shots made it 30-16 with 2:28 to play. M-E fired back in the remaining minutes, and Joe Powell’s three-point play with four seconds remaining left it at 30-21.

Over a dominant third quarter, Vaughn Labor, Dietrich, and Nate Foote had a pair of baskets, and Foote’s three ball at the end of the quarter upped the Tornado’s lead to 21 points.

“We were able to get some inside scoring tonight, and that took the pressure off our guards,” Abbott said. “We made them defend the paint, and we got better looks at the basket.”