CORTLAND – It was a game of key runs for the Cortland Purple Tigers on Thursday night, as a critical second-half offensive came at the perfect time and the Tigers outlasted the Tornado 59-48.

It has been a lunch pail, hard hat kind of week for the Tornado who had their third game in six days as they contended with their Section III Class A opponent; Cortland.

The Purple Tornado was propelled early in the first half with consistent and steady offense as Keegan Franklin, Torin Lawrence and Eli Craddock scored eight, seven and five points respectively in the first 16 minutes of play, with 12 of the trios’ most important points coming in the second quarter when Norwich reclaimed the lead before halftime.

Headed into the locker room, Norwich maintained a 28-22 lead. It seemed that the Tornado had the Purple Tigers by the tail headed into the third quarter. Unfortunately for NHS, the Tigers came back and bit them on the hand to open up the second half of play.

The momentum that Norwich had built in the first half didn’t last for long. First came a second-half injury to the Tornado’s Torin Lawrence and Carson Thornton which took both starting NHS guards out of the line-up for a key stretch of the game.