Boys’ Basketball

Maine-Endwell 71, Norwich 60

ENDWELL – Maine-Endwell solved Norwich’s pressure defense, and was able to pull away slowly in the fourth quarter to hand the Tornado their first loss in four outings this season.

“They did a great job finishing against our full-court pressure,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott, whose club trailed by just two entering the last quarter. “Our guys really battled hard around the basket, (Maine-Endwell) was just a little too long and athletic around the basket.”

Norwich started strong leading 19-11 at the end of the first quarter. From there, the Tornado had to work much harder to get their points. “Their defense really tightened up, and along with Seton Catholic Central, it was the best man-to-man defense we’ve seen in a long time,” Abbott said. “It just became more of a grind for us on offense.”

Richie Bonney and Josh Borfitz scored 17 points apiece for Norwich. Bonney, though, spent a good bit of time on the bench in the first half with foul trouble, and picked up his third and fourth fouls in the fourth quarter. Bonney didn’t foul out, but was forced to play more tentative on the defensive end against M-E’s inside players.

“We did a lot of good things tonight, but give M-E credit, they played really well,” Abbott said.