HARPURSVILLE- Norwich captured that last elusive win to qualify for the Section IV Class B Boys Basketball tournament on Saturday February 12th with their 69-48 drubbing of the Harpursville Hornets.

It wall all Norwich all game long as the NHS cagers raced out to a 38-23 lead at the halftime break.

The Hornets Luke Merrill scored 18 points and Brayden Sakowsky added in 16 points for Harpursville.

Norwich senior Keegan Franklin scored a game high 29 points in the Tornado victory. Tornado teammate Jerell Stokes pitched in 12 points, all of which came from beyond the arc.

VESTAL- After clinching their sectional qualifying victory, NHS traveled to Vestal on Monday night to take on the Golden Bears. After facing double-digit deficits all game long, Norwich finally succumbed to the Golden Bears in a 61-50 loss.

Vestal took a strong 36-21 first half advantage into the locker room, and at the conclusion of the third quarter their lead extended to 11 points. Norwich managed to cut the Vestal lead to single digits with 5 minutes to play, but never got closer than nine points as the Golden Bears marched onto victory.

The Vestal trio of Jalan Johnson, William Newberry III, and Nicolas DiRado combined for 44 of their team’s 61 points, with Johnson scored 18 points, Newberry III scoring 15 and DiRado pitching in 11.

Tornado senior Keegan Franklin scored 14 points in the loss, with freshman Steven Dowdall adding in 12 points in the setback with Torin Lawrence pitching in 9 points.

Norwich ends their regular season schedule with a record of 8-12 and will await for their first round sectional opponent.

Harpursville: 12 11 17 8 - 40

Norwich: 21 17 14 17- 69

Norwich: T. Lawrence 7, J. Stokes 12, C. Olds 5, S. Dowdall 6, A. Ragonese 2, K. Franklin 29, W. Thornton 3, L. Ford 5. 28 FG, 6-10 FT – 69

Harpursville: Akulis 4, Sakowsky 16, Merill 18, Yerber 8, Hendrickson 2. 19 FG, 7-10 FT- 48

3-point goals: Norwich 7 (Stokes 4, Dowdall 2, Thornton); H 3 (Yerber 2, Merrill 1)

Norwich: 11 10 18 11- 50

Vestal: 22 14 14 11- 61

Norwich: T. Lawrence 9, J. Stokes 4, C. Olds 2, S. Dowdall 12, K. Franklin 14, W. Thornton 3, L. Ford 6. 20 FG, 7-12 FT – 50

Vestal: Gannon 2, Johnson 18, Cordi 6, DiRado 11, Strahley 2, Traore 1, Purdy 1, Newberry III 15, Podest 2, Harris 3. 21 FG, 15-21 FT- 61

3-point goals: Norwich 3 (Lawrence, Dowdall, Thornton); V 4 (Johnson 3, DiRoda)