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By RICK SPRUNGER
Austin Blomeke may be giving Norwell coach Ty Platt nightmares.
After having scored just three points in the entire game, East Noble’s six-foot junior nailed a game-tying three-pointer with 0:11 left in regulation, then added 11 more points in overtime as the visiting Knights topped Norwell, 67-63.
East Noble improved to 4-9 with the win, 2-2 in Northeast Hoosier Conference play.
Norwell fell to 4-8 overall, 0-4 in the league.
It was the second straight year that Norwell bowed to East Noble in overtime.
Blomeke’s four minutes and change in the spotlight overshadowed a herculean effort by Norwell’s Chandler Harnish to almost single-handedly overhaul East Noble.
Held scoreless in the first half, Harnish exploded in the second half, finishing with game-high totals of 20 points and 14 rebounds.
But Platt was pleased with his team’s overall performance, particularly after disastrous 3-for-22 shooting (13.6 percent) in the first half.
“I told the team at halftime that we were doing everything right except shooting,” said Platt. “We were crashing the boards. We weren’t turning it over. We just weren’t hitting our shots.”
East Noble took advantage of Norwell’s cold spell to seize a 20-12 halftime lead. And while Norwell found its shooting eyes in the second half, East Noble turned almost deadly, connecting on 14 of 19 shots (73.7 percent) after halftime.
Even then, Norwell actually caught its northern visitors and very nearly won the game in regulation.
Trailing 45-41 after two Kyle Johnson free throws with 0:51 to play, Norwell suddenly ran off seven straight points before East Noble could get the ball over the time line.
A Harnish three-pointer from the left wing with 0:36 left made it 45-44; and after East Noble threw it away against Norwell pressure on the inbounds pass, Harnish scored again from underneath to give the Knights their first lead since early in the second quarter, 46-45.
Again, East Noble threw it away. And again, Norwell responded, Matt Terhune hitting two free throws with 0:21 left for a 48-45 lead.
But that was when Blomeke came galloping to the rescue with his bomb from the right wing.
Justin Imel missed a three-pointer at the home end, and the game went into overtime.
“You can’t play it any better at the end of regulation than we did,” sighed Platt. “We executed our out-of-bounds plays, we forced two turnovers, we hit our free throws. Our guys gave a full effort. And then they get a three-pointer.”
Blomeke took over in the extra session, canning a 14-footer from the lane, a pair of free throws, and an 18-footer from the right baseline to stake the Kendallvilles to a 54-48 lead with 1:56 left. He added two more free tosses at the 1:14 mark and converted a three-point play on a steal and layup to kick East Noble up 61-53 with just 0:47 to play.
Blomeke finished with 17 points, but he had help. Johnson also scored 17 points for East Noble, and Mat Dove came off the bench to score 15 points on perfect 6-for-6 shooting.
Clay Dafforn joined Harnish in double figures for Norwell with 16 points.
The reserve game was also a close one, but the home team won this one, Norwell topping East Noble’s jayvees, 31-29, on a rebound basket by Kreigh Williams at the buzzer.
Scott Woodward led Norwell in scoring with seven points, Williams and Andrew Harris finished with six, Nathan Archbold with five, Klayton Reed with four, Rhett Goodmiller with two, and Seth Eisaman with one.
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