Hot Shooting Of Westwood Does In Norton Freshman Boys

For the second time this season, the boys’ freshman basketball team faced a hot-shooting Westwood squad.

And unfortunately for the second consecutive time the result was the same as the Lancers suffered their second loss of the year to the Wolverines, dropping a 64-46 decision on Tuesday afternoon at the Lawrence Larocque Gymnasium.

The victory improved a talented Westwood team to 13-1 on the season with its only loss coming to Holliston. With the defeat, Norton dropped to 8-5 on the season with two of those losses coming to the Wolverines.

Forward James Loring led Norton in the game with 21 points. Point guard Levi Kahn contributed nine points and center Paul Schleicher had five points.

Wing player Brad Wry also scored four points, while power forward Josh Kelleher, guard Nick O’Leary and center Brandon Perry all had two points. Forward Derek Fleming rounded out the scoring for the Lancers with one point.

After dropping a 62-37 decision in Westwood on January 7, the Lancers were done in by the Wolverines’ three-point shooting again on Tuesday at the Larocque Gymnasium.

Using very hot shooting from the floor, especially from beyond the three-point arc, Westwood opened up a 17-point advantage at the half, 42-25.

Wolverine standout Paul Calobrisi hit a trio of three-pointers in the first quarter as the visitors took a five-point lead after one, 19-14.

Westwood then hit five three-pointers in the second quarter, outscoring the hosts 23-11 in the period to take its 17-point advantage at the break. James Galvin knocked down three three-pointers in the quarter, while Ned Kelly and Calobrisi also hit threes.

“We have to keep up our intensity for the whole game,” said Norton head coach Joan Valenti. “You can’t take any plays off, especially against a good team like this. The kids have to learn to play with intensity on every play.”

“Westwood is a good-shooting team and you have to be in their shooters’ faces. They are a well-rounded shooting team and have great balance on offense. All their kids can shoot, so we switched up our defense, going to a man to man. We did a much better job taking away their perimeter shooting in the second half.”

Leading 19-14 heading into the second quarter, Galvin hit a three to push the Wolverine advantage to eight at 22-14.

A three by Wry would pull Norton to within five at 29-24 with 4:28 remaining in the first half, but the Wolverines then scored the next 10 points to take full control of the game at 39-24 with 1:06 left before the break. Daniel Roche had a bank jumper for Westwood, while Galvin and Kelly completed the 10-0 surge with a pair of threes.

A free throw by Loring (14 first-half points) with 46.5 seconds remaining ended the run and made the score 39-25, but Calobrisi hit a three from the right wing with 34 seconds left to give the visitors their 17-point advantage at the break, 42-25. Westwood would end the first half on a 13-1 run.

After scoring the final three points of the first half, the Wolverines extended their latest run to 8-0 by scoring the first five points of the third quarter to open up their largest lead of the day at 22 points, 47-25, with 6:16 left in the period. Calobrisi culminated the Westwood surge with a three-pointer from the left wing.

Norton could have packed it in at this point, but did not, making a couple of runs at the Wolverines during the remainder of the game.

A 5-0 run by the Lancers, which included a three-pointer by Loring and free throws by Wry and Loring, closed the gap to 51-35 with 3:46 left in the third.

Another three by Loring (seven third-quarter points) and a free throw by Fleming made it 53-39 with 1:54 left in the period. But a pair of free throws by Roche (six third-quarter points) gave the visitors a 55-39 advantage after three quarters.

Westwood would end all hopes of a Norton comeback by scoring the final two points of the third quarter and the first four of the fourth to open up a 20-point advantage at 59-39 with 6:14 remaining in the game. Roche capped this 6-0 run with a basket.

A pair of free throws by Kelleher and a basket by Kahn (seven second-half points) closed the gap to 17 points at 61-44 with just under five minutes left in the game, but that would be as close as the hosts would get for the remainder of the contest.

After being outscored 42-25 in the first half, Norton played much better over the final two quarters, being outscored by just a margin of 23-21 by the Wolverines.

“I thought the kids did a pretty good job staying with them in the second half,” said Valenti. “We played them even in the second half and that is a moral victory for our kids. They weren’t going to give us anything outside. Our kids did a good job taking the ball to the hoop. They did a good job driving the lanes and also setting screens. The kids played good, hard-nosed basketball.”

Owning an 8-5 record, Norton will travel to Bellingham for a game with the Blackhawks on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Lancers will then head to Medway to face the Mustangs next Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. before completing their season by hosting Medfield at the middle school Friday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m.

In the first meeting of the year, Norton beat Bellingham 64-26 at the Larocque Gym. The Lancers edged Medway 46-45 in the first meeting between the two teams at the Larocque Gym. Norton dropped a 62-52 decision in Medfield earlier this season.

“Medway is a tough team and Medfield is always a challenge,” Valenti said.