During the holiday season, local basketball teams play in tournaments hoping to be challenged by different teams in a way that will harden them for the upcoming barrage of section games.
Whether that happens or not can depend, but there was no doubt that Norwin and Belle Vernon got their money’s worth during their early-afternoon game Tuesday at the Peters Township Tournament.
A back-and-forth affair saw the Class 6A Knights (7-4) take control down the stretch and hold off the Class 4A Leopards (7-4), 62-55.
“We’ve been in a ton of (these close games),” Norwin coach Cam Auld said. “I was telling them in the locker room, this was our last out-of-section game, so from here on out it’s just section play. We play in a tough section where it’s a battle every night, so we can’t take moments like this for granted.
“I think it’s huge to be in two games this week where we had to fight and we had to do it in a different way. That should be something that we take with us down the final stretch.”
The Knights managed two close wins during the tournament against the Leopards and Olentangy (Ohio) in a 54-51 game Monday.
As for Belle Vernon, coach Ricky Tyburski said his squad played well at points but didn’t put together a full game performance.
“We’re not completing four quarters,” he said. “But we’re still getting chances to win. We’re just not taking them. That’s where we have to be better.”
The Leopards were paced by Elijah Majors (18 points) and Dane Daugherty (14), and Luca Ghilani added nine. For Norwin, Alex Graney scored 18 points, and Nico Keteles added 11 in a balanced attack. Ten players scored for Norwin.
Graney, who had 14 of his points in the first half, got the scoring started with Daugherty matching him for BVA. Once he made two shots to put the Leopards ahead, the Knights managed seven straight points via three points each from Graney and Mario Csukas plus a free throw from Potter Brozeski.
Belle Vernon came right back and tied it when Cam Jenko made a layup and Majors made a 3-pointer, but the Knights outscored the Leopards, 9-5, the rest of the quarter to take an 18-14 lead into the second.
Dom Kantz and Luke Marzec quickly added to that advantage to open the second quarter before AJ Watson made a free throw and Majors earned a steal and a layup to make the score 22-17.
Norwin then added a 10-2 spurt as Graney had five to push the Knights’ lead to 32-19. Ghilani followed with a three, and Majors made a layup to pull a few points back. King Carver and Graney scored before the halftime buzzer to make it 36-24 at the break.
Belle Vernon came out firing in the second half as the Leopards’ full-court pressure gave the Knights fits.
The Leopards opened the half with a 9-2 run before Keteles made a 3-pointer. But trailing 41-33, Belle Vernon managed another rally with seven straight points as Daugherty started going to work in the post. His layup to end the brief run cut the BVA deficit to 41-40 before Carver split a pair of free throws.
“Once you get behind on these (bigger) teams, it’s hard to get back in it,” Tyburski said. “We fought all the way back, which is great, but that makes the loss hurt more.”
The next trip down the floor, Daugherty snatched the lead back for Belle Vernon with a 3-pointer, but it was short-lived as Keteles nailed a three with 2 seconds left in the quarter to make it 45-43 entering the fourth.
After being sped up by Belle Vernon’s pressure in the third, the Knights settled in and did what they had to do to close out the win.
Vincenzo Francia opened the scoring in the final quarter with a free throw, but Norwin got three easy layups after that to bring the score to 51-44.
“It’s good to see a couple of layups go in and start breaking their press,” Auld said. “I also thought we got them in foul trouble a little bit in the fourth, so it made them a little less aggressive which helped us.”
Belle Vernon didn’t go down without a fight, responding with a 7-2 run that cut it to 53-51, but Norwin scored nine of the game’s final 13 points to close out the win.