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NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio– It came down the final seconds of the game Friday night and Nordonia was able to escape with a 48-46 win at the free throw line.
“Battle of our season, honestly,” Nordonia coach Dominique Sanders said after the game. “We were able to finally weather the storm and keep our composure for four quarters. We’ve been in so many games like that all season and unfortunately, it hasn’t been our way but tonight it was.”
The final 40 seconds of the game took 15 minutes due to the amount of free throws attempted by both teams. Seven different players attempted a free throw during that time and in the end, with the Knights up 47-46 with 2.7 seconds left, junior Trevor Turnbull connected on one-of-two free throws and Nicholas Carozza’s shot at the buzzer couldn’t fall for the Bears on senior night.
FINAL: Nordonia spoils North Royalton’s senior night with a 48-46 win. @SportsKee1 @CoachD_Sanders pic.twitter.com/QbYqBqFE2D
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) February 10, 2024
Nordonia and North Royalton battled throughout the first half. The Bears were able to gain an early edge on the Knights and it started with crashing the glass, leading to a slew of second-chance opportunities. The 3-point shot just couldn’t fall for them and that’s when the Knights started to control more of the game throughout the half.
What was once an early 7-2 lead for the Bears suddenly came to an end with the Knights ending the final four minutes of the first quarter on a 9-4 run to tie the game following the first eight minutes of action.
The Knights found success throughout the second quarter by scoring in transition, often beating the Bears down the floor while winning possession of the loose balls. The Bears would score just seven points in the second quarter due to the slow pace of play from the zone defense and often dealing with double teams that led to turnovers.
The Knights, on the other hand, were able to find some rhythm offensively, going through their sets on offense and scoring the majority of their points in the paint. With that, the Knights took a 21-18 lead at halftime.
The main emphasis at halftime: grabbing rebounds and limiting the Bears on the glass.
“All season it’s been an issue,” Sanders explained about rebounding the basketball. “That’s one thing we needed to adjust at halftime, I told these guys we needed to box out to stay in this game and we did.”
In the second half, Trevor Turnbull started to take the game over for his team. From fighting through contact to get buckets near the rim to testing his 3-point shot, the junior guard was all over the court for the Knights and helped propel his team to a win.
He scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half.
“Trev does what Trev does, he did a great job of carrying us forward,” Sanders said.
Alongside Turnbull was junior forward Jordan Byrd, whose physical force inside the paint was noticed in crunch time. He ended the night with 10 points as the Knights trailed for just 10 seconds of the game in the second half.
North Royalton takes a 36-35 lead following this Lincoln Lee steal and layup. @NOROHoops @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/hCNDwlzBtM
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) February 10, 2024
Senior guard Nicholas Carozza scored a team-high 12 points for the Bears during the loss, with eight of those points coming from free throws in the fourth quarter down the stretch. Every time the Knights led by three points with under a minute left in the game, Sanders forced his team to foul and make the Bears try to make a comeback starting at the free-throw line.
They were able to hang on in the end despite knocking down just 7-of-16 free throws.
“We needed it, we just came off a tough loss and we were able to bounce back against a great team and get some momentum heading into the tournament,” Sanders said about how important a tough road test was to complete Friday night. “We’re excited.”
