By Grady Thompson

Sun Sports Contributor

BINGHAMTON - The Norwich Purple Tornado left Seton Catholic Central High School on Friday night at 8-1 on the season after a 59-43 victory versus the Saints.

Norwich and Seton seemed to be neck-and-neck at the half, as the Tornado went into the locker room with a 30-27 lead prompted by three three-point field goals and 11 first half points from Senior Jake Walsh.

But the game would open up in the second half when the Tornado came out playing stifling defense and allowing Seton only 16 points for the remainder of the game; 8 in each quarter.

“In the second half, we played much better defensively. We were struggling with rotations and their press in the first half and we gave them some easy buckets,” said Norwich Head Coach Brian Collier. “We weren’t talking and communicating like we had been in previous games this season, and obviously being on the road it was a little different atmosphere for us and that gave us an opportunity to work on it. That was something in the second half we came out and sort of fine-tuned, and it worked very well.”

Norwich was led in scoring by Jake Walsh, Senior Jamison Luke, and Junior Carlos Ithier. All three would tack on 13 points for the Tornado.

Coach Collier also attributed the strong second half play of the Tornado to Juniors Dashawn King and Tre Bonham, who would come off the bench and provide a much needed spark for Norwich.

“Dashawn and Tre were huge plusses off the bench, they really came through for us,” said Coach Collier. “Between the two I think we got 11 points, and probably 3 or 4 steals apiece which ended up resulting in buckets. Their athleticism off the bench gave us a huge pickup when we needed it.”

The Saints were led in scoring by Sophomore Leo Gallagher, who shot a staggering 66.7% from the field on 15 shots, ultimately adding 14 points to the Seton side.

Norwich returns home Tuesday night to take on the Susquehanna Valley Sabers in the annual Coaches vs. Cancer game. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.

Team statistics: Norwich: J. Walsh 4 2-2-13, T. Bonham 2 2-2-6, C. Ithier 5 2-2-13, D. King 1 3-5-5, M. Parella 1 0-0-2, J. Vinal 2 2-4-7, J. Luke 6 1-5-13.

Totals: 21 12-20-59.

SCC: L. Meier 1 2-2-4, L. Gallagher 6 0-0-14, T. Dempsey 1 0-1-3, M. Vaughan 2 4-9-8, P. Hartrick 3 0-2-6, J. Williams 2 0-0-4, G. Olson 2 0-0-4.

Totals: 17 6-14-43.

Three-point field goals: (N) Walsh 3, Ithier, Vinal. (SCC) Gallagher 2, Dempsey.

Score by quarter:

Team 1 2 3 4 Tostal

Norwich 14 16 14 15 59

SCC 15 12 8 8 43