By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Norwood Pirates plan to play for championships – emphasis on the plural part – this season.
Saturday afternoon’s performance was a good start.
Norwood overtook Greenwood in the second half and held on at the end to earn a 68-67 victory in the championship game of the Marionville Invitational.
“It was a rough start. We kind of had the jitters – first championship (game) of the year,” said Norwood senior guard Peyton McDaris, who scored a team-high 19. “Second half, we really locked in.”
The Pirates, after falling behind by double digits in the opening eight minutes, put up 47 points in the decisive second-half surge.
Norwood is three years removed from the program’s first-ever state championship. The Pirates are already 6-0 overall on the young season with bigger aspirations ahead in the coming months.
“This is just preparation for what our goal is. We want to compete for and win a district championship every year,” said Norwood coach Shane Chadwell. “We can’t play like that in the first quarter of a district championship game. You play a season for a reason. We have to correct our mistakes and learn from it.”
Even with Greenwood star Collin Clark sitting most of the second quarter with foul trouble, the Pirates still trailed by nine points at halftime.
Clark would pick up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and exit the game again. This time, Norwood took advantage.
An alley-oop dunk by senior forward Gunner Bradshaw helped the Pirates pull even. The Pirates’ perimeter shooters also stepped up, as Carder Kelly and Andrew Bradshaw each made a pair of 3-pointers in the second half.
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“We had to hit some shots to get our press set up,” Chadwell said. “Once we did that, we were able to speed (Greenwood) up a little bit and get the pace faster.”
Norwood’s lead swelled to 58-52 midway through the fourth, but Greenwood did not go down quietly. Greenwood senior guard Logan Sanders finished with a team-high 24 points. He was 12-for-17 at the free throw line.
Clark’s 3-pointer with 16 seconds pulled the Jays within one point.
Missed free throws by Norwood – the Pirates were just 14-for-23 at the line overall – gave Greenwood a chance to win. But Greenwood’s potential go-ahead runner was off the mark in the waning seconds.
Tyler Harrell scored 16 and Clark, a Missouri State commit, finished with 15 for the Blue Jays.
“We kept (Clark) off the boards. He gets a lot of points off rebounds and putbacks,” Chadwell said. “He was our focal point today. I thought we did a good job on him.”
Norwood enjoyed a balanced scoring performance on the day. Seven Pirates finished with six or more points. McDaris scored 18 of his 19 points in the second half.
“We were playing horrible as a team in the first half. Our energy really picked us up. Once we got our spirits up, everybody started playing better,” McDaris said. “We’re a smaller team, so we have to play gritty.”
The Pirates return to action on Tuesday night at Conway. Greenwood plays at New Covenant Academy the same night.
A deep Class 2 District 10 field that includes defending state champion Hartville stands in the way of Norwood’s postseason aspirations.
“We’re playing team basketball. We’re sharing the basketball and hitting the open guy,” Chadwell said. “We’re not trying to force things like we were, I feel like, the last couple of years. They’re playing together and playing harder. I think (the seniors) realize this is the last go-around for them.”
Norwood 68, Greenwood 67
Greenwood 19 11 18 19 — 67
Norwood 8 13 25 22 — 68
Greenwood (2-1 overall) – Logan Sanders 24, Tyler Harrell 16, Collin Clark 15, Isaiah Remulla 8, Caden Frederick 2, Kalen Hetzler 2
Norwood (6-0 overall) – Peyton McDaris 19, Carder Kelly 11, Cooper Vaughan 10, Gunner Bradshaw 9, Noah Drake 7, Andrew Bradshaw 6, Gary Williams 6
