STAC BOYS BASKETBALL: OWEGO TAKES OUT NORWICH IN OT FOR 7TH STRAIGHT VICTORY (2024-01-31)
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — The Owego boys basketball team came up with lucky No. 7 Tuesday night, but it took a few extra rolls to reach its seventh straight victory in a 75-70 overtime battle with Norwich.
“Yikes! Overtime victory tonight,” exclaimed River Hawks coach Chris Evans. “We were very fortunate that Joseph Palladino got hot in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter and overtime.”
Palldino was lights out from long distance, canning six 3-pointers, all after intermission.
He made three, plus a free throw, in a crucial fourth-quarter performance while Riley Loomis hit for a trio of conventional field goals and a foul shot. Ben Rollison added a trey and Kam Wicklund chipped in with a basket as Owego sent the game into the extra session.
Loomis scored five points in OT, Palladino knocked down another trey and Talan Schumacher chipped in with three free throws.
Colin Olds accounted for seven of the Purple Tornado’s points in the first quarter as they grabbed a 17-13 lead while Palladino had seven for the River Hawks.
Owego took Q2, 11-10, as Wicklund and Buchsbaum nailed one three-ball apiece. Wicklund hit one free throw as well and Zack Bensley tacked on three more points, cutting the Norwich advantage to 27-24 at the break. Graham Barton had four points for the Tornado while Steven Dowdall and Kassen Stubb added one trey apiece.
The River Hawks would chip another point off the Norwich lead in the third period as Palladino knocked down his first two treys of the evening and Loomis also scored six points. Rollison hit a trey also and Bensley adde another two points. The Tornado kept things close with a pair of threes from Jacob Morris and six points by Dowdall.
Palladino scored 10 of Owego’s 22 fourth-quarter points, Loomis had seven, Rollison nailed another trey and Wicklund tacked on a basket. Dowdall pumped out seven points for the visitors, and Burton and Olds added six apiece.
Evans attributed the victory effort to several of his players.
“Talan Schumacher, Riley Loomis, Ben Rollison and Kam Wicklund made winning plays all night long,” he said. “We have to go small at times because it helps us offensively, but obviously in a game like this, Zach Bensley is going to play a big role, and he certainly made some big plays as well.”
Evans also applauded the Norwich effort.
“We had a very difficult time corralling Dowdall out front. And their big guys inside were extremely active,” he said.
Palladino led all scorers with 28 points and Loomis tossed in 20 more. Rollison finished with eight, Wicklund had six, Bensley and Schumacher chipped in with five apiece, and Buchsbaum tacked on three.
Burton and Olds led Norwich (7-7) with 19 points each, and Dowdall finished with 18.
“It was clearly a nailbiter,” Evans said. “We made just enough plays to win a really good high school basketball game. All credit to Norwich. They are really tough and played extremely well.”
Owego (13-3) visits Waverly (11-3) Wednesday.
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PHOTO 1 SUBMITTED. ... PHOTOS 2-8 BY DAVID BOLAND.
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