SPEEDWAY — The embers were still burning, Edgewood just needed someone to fan the flames.
That’s where AJ Norris came in, leading his team to a 47-30 victory over Owen Valley in the opening round of the Class 3A Speedway boys basketball sectional on Tuesday, March 3.
Working out the sectional nerves is often not easy and the difficulty was raised when the Mustangs boys basketball team had to take on its rival down its best player. Caden Jones turned an ankle in practice last Saturday, taking away the team’s leading scorer and rebounder not to mention his lanky 6-foot-6 frame.
Edgewood froze up, unable to sink layups, 3s or anything in between. But head coach Matt Wadsworth liked the energy and, the Mustangs trailed only 19-12 at half.
“There is an aspect of trying to figure out how to play without your leading scorer,” Wadsworth said. “And also at the end of the first quarter (OV led 5-4), sectional games start slow. You’re trying to get your footing. I liked the shots we were getting, they just didn’t fall.
“Then at halftime, you have to ask yourself as a team, are they really stopping us, or are we stopping ourselves? And from that mindset, we recognized if we moved better, if we pushed the ball better on breaks that opportunities would open up.”
Norris woke them from their slumber and put OV to bed, starting off with a steal and layup 20 seconds into the third. He had another transition layup 20 seconds after that. And after Noah Hall hit a bucket for OV with 6:19 left in the period for a 21-16 lead, it would be the last time the Patriots had any hopes of an upset.
“Being down like that in the first half, we just all came together and just realized we had to lock in and start playing harder,” Norris said. “I thought we weren’t playing as hard as we could be. Coming into the second half, moved the ball more and played harder.
“It all started with being aggressive.”
Second-half rally for Edgewood
A Luke Druckey 3 launched a 16-0 run that saw OV (2-22) turn it over six times in the quarter and commit five fouls and score just four points. Norris had eight of his team-high 13 points in the period and had five of his six boards in the second half as well.
“He’s had some tough games here in terms of getting the ball in the basket, and he’s sees that first shot fall, that second shot fall, it really is a burden lifted,” Wadsworth said. “And he just took off from there. So hopefully that’s confidence that carries over to the next two games.”
Up 32-21, Edgewood hung on comfortably. OV got within 32-26, but Edgewood scored the next eight points. In all, the Mustangs put up 35 points in the second half without a turnover.
“Obviously, the better team won the game,” OV coach JB Neill said. “It’s been our problem all year we just can’t string together four good quarters. Just making the adjustments and being able to execute them, we’ve struggled with that.
“We struggle to score. So you play uphill every time. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Another pleasant sight for Wadsworth was seeing all hands contribute in the second half rally. No one player or even two were going to pick up all the slack in Jones’ absence.
Roberts finished with 10 points, Carter Hayden had eight and Zane Powell and Karson Gladhill each had six points.
“I like to see our seniors get us in that position going into the fourth quarter,” Wadsworth said. “Carter battling for offensive rebounds and and-1 opportunities and Reece pushing the basketball. And then for them to set the table for us to finish with Karson and Zane and the big buckets they made.”
As for Jones? Edgewood sees him progressing toward possibly taking the court in Friday’s semifinal against Cascade (14-7) at 6 p.m. If not, Edgewood has a better feel for what it needs to do without him.
“Really, the leadership we need is just playing for Edgewood,” Norris said. “Just being Edgewood. Playing together, having a family bond.
“We’re not based on one player. Caden is a great player, we all love Caden, but we’re all one team. We’re all best friends. We all truly love each other and that’s what we need going into the next game against Cascade and moving forward.”
OV comes out swinging
With Jones out, a shorter Edgewood team had a bit of trouble in the lane in the first half. Owen Valley shot a lot of 3s in the regular season and the Mustangs worked to take that weapon away. So OV worked it inside to Tye Voss and Mason Combs, who had missed the first part of the season with a broken wrist.
They combined for 10 points in the first half, but no more. Hall (10 points) had eight of OV’s 11 points after the break.
“I wish we had three or four more games because they’re really progressing,” Neill said. “You don’t get much credit because you’re not winning, but I’ve seen that with Mason and Tye.
“They couldn’t have done that in November or December or maybe even January. But we’ve been working to that point. Something to build off of.”
Good adjustment on their part to go big against us,” Wadsworth said. “Then on the defensive end we switched Evan (Jacob) to (Voss) on the inside, his mobility gave them trouble.”
Tough season for OV
“Physically, we’re young, so we don’t look like anybody we play,” Neill said. “Skill-set wise, we have a lot of work to do. You’ve got freshmen and sophomores out there (with only two seniors) playing a lot of minutes which makes it tough.
“They got some experience this year but now you’re at a crossroads. If you’re willing to put the work in then you’re a little better next year.”
A two-win season that ended with 16 straight losses does not have appeared to scare anyone off.
“One thing this group did, we won two games and as you can imagine how miserable that is,” Neill said. “But these kids showed up every day for practice. I didn’t deal with any bad attitudes. They worked. They want to get better. We’re just not there yet
“That made it enjoyable to go to practice. The toughest thing as a coach was not to just be negative all the time but also make them understand this is not OK. This is not what we want. So that was hard to balance out.”
EDGEWOOD 47, OWEN VALLEY 30
Edgewood (47): Jacobs f 0-2 1-2 1, Hayden c 3-5 2-3 8, AJ Norris g 6-15 0-0 13, Roberts g 4-11 2-2 10, Druckey g 1-5 0-0 3, Powell 2-5 0-0 6, Wickens 0-0 0-0 0, Gladhill 3-4 0-0 6, Christie 0-0 0-0 0, H.Norris 0-0 0-0 0, Ripley 0-0 0-0 0, Lirot 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 5-7 47.
Owen Valley (30): Voss f 2-7 0-0 4, Combs f 3-4 0-0 6, Hall g 5-12 0-2 10, J.Robertson g 1-6 1-2 4, Bell g 0-4 0-0 0, Hutton 2-3 0-0 6, Ruble 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, VanArsdale 0-0 0-0 0, B.Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Woodruff 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-37 1-4 30.
Edgewood (11-11) 4 | 8 | 20 | 15 — 47
Owen Valley (2-22) 5 | 14 | 4 | 7 — 30
3-point goals: Edgewood 4-13 (Powell 2-4, Druckrey 1-2, AJ Norris 1-3, Jacobs 0-1, Lirot 0-1, Roberts 0-2), Owen Valley 3-11 (Hutton 2-2, J.Richardson 1-2, Wright 0-1, Hall 0-2, Bell 0-4). Rebounds: Edgewood 26 (AJ Norris 6), Owen Valley 28 (Voss 7). Team fouls: Edgewood 7, Owen Valley 12. Turnovers: Edgewood 4, Owen Valley 15.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: AJ Norris, Edgewood turn corner against Owen Valley in sectional opener
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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