The Purple Tornado bench celebrates during the game on Thursday in Windsor. Norwich topped the host Black Knights 65-52 to earn their third straight win. (Jamey Mullen Photo)

WINDSOR – Norwich’s defense tightened up the grips on the Black Knights in the third quarter, holding Windsor to just five points in the stanza. The Purple Tornado carried their scoring momentum from before halftime into the third, tallying 18 to pull away for the 65-52 win over the host Black Knights Thursday.

In their fourth straight road game, the Purple Tornado trailed by five at the end of the first quarter but a second quarter run of 23 points by Norwich – led by 13 points from senior guard Carson Maynard – brought the visiting team to a 33-33 tie with host Windsor Black Knights.

Maynard ended the night with a game-high 25 points and teammates Tommy Flanagan and JT Vinal each finished in double figures, scoring 15 and 13 respectively.

Flanagan paced Norwich in the big third quarter with nine points while Vinal carried the final stanza’s scoring load with eight.

Norwich trailed 15-10 after the first but Maynard and Vinal combined for 18 of the 23 points in the second to erase the five point lead held by the home team.