VESTAL – The Norwich Purple Tornado boys basketball team defeated Vestal 62-41 on Saturday afternoon. With the season winding down, they knew the game was a must-win and the next game will be just as important if they make sectionals. Norwich currently sits at 7-12 on the season with their final regular season game on Tuesday.

In the win over Vestal, Norwich played a strong second quarter, where they posted 19 points and held Vestal to nine to take a 27-13 lead at the half. Norwich was not finished with their productive playing as they came out strong with 21 points in the third quarter. Vestal did as well, but it didn’t matter due to efforts being cut short in the first half alone.

Norwich finished bold in the final eight minutes to earn the win. Steven Dowdall led the way with 16 points while Jerell Stokes had 13 and Colin Olds finished with 10 points.

Norwich heads to Dryden on Tuesday for a game scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

Scores by Quarter:

NO 8 19 21 14–62

VE 4 9 17 11–41

NO: Steven Dowdall 16, Jerell Stokes 13, Colin Olds 10, Wyatt Thornton 8, Kaleb Turner 4, Jacob Morris 3, Mitchell Collins 3, Jerome Palen 2, Carmello Ithier 2, Damien Kane 1.

VE: B. Bopp 13, A. Harris 10, B. Stranley 9, J. Gannon 3, JT Gannon 3, B. Lafferty 1, E. Webb 1, X. Shuler 1.

Three-Pointers: NO 6 (Stokes 3, Dowdall, Thornton, Morris); VE 4 (Bopp 3, Stranley)