By Frank Rizzo
CALLICOON—February 6, 2001 - So Bruce Nober scores 30 points and Chad Powell adds 17 and no one else on Narrowsburg’s boys’ basketball team is remotely close. Not exactly balanced.
To which Narrowsburg coach Cliff Kelly responds, “That scorebook is perfectly balanced. That’s what Powell and Nober are supposed to do. Everybody out there knows how their job is defined. They all did their jobs.”
The Indians visited Callicoon and beat Sullivan West/Delaware Valley 54-40 on Thursday night, keeping a hold on first place in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division V race.
It wasn’t easy, however, just as their first encounter, back on January 4 wasn’t. The Indians won that game 63-54, and DV center Emmanuel “E.T.” Toledo burned them for 21 points.
On Thursday Toledo was an intimidating presence around the net, and he and his mates dominated the boards to garner scoring chances and keep the proceedings close.
But in the end, the Indians managed to hold him to eight points, for which Kelly expressed his satisfaction.
The opening half featured 11 lead changes and four ties as neither team could establish daylight. The Indians went into the break ahead 21-19.
The Eagles could not find the basket in the third, falling behind 32-21 at one point before ending the quarter down 32-25.
Buckets by Bill Reichmann and Jeff Peters to open the fourth quarter got the hosts within 32-29, but after Kelly called time with 7:08 left, the Indians regained the momentum.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Powell and Nober and a free throw by Dave Curreri capped a 10-0 drive that gave the Indians a 42-29 lead with 4:06 left.
After that, the Eagles could get no closer than eight as Narrowsburg won going away.
“We played good team defense tonight,” Kelly said. “Our plan was to have an uptempo game, but we struggled in the first half. We started going to our transition game and that opened things up. We wanted to get the rebound, tune it out, and beat the other guys down the floor.”
Kelly said SW/DV’s size and strength created a problem for his team.
“Every football school poses that problem,” he said.
Eagle coach John Hubert said his game plan — besides winning — was “to slow them down.”
“That third quarter killed us,” he reflected. “We just didn’t take good shots. We started hurrying them, didn’t get set.”
Nober and Powell, as noted, did all the damage on the night. Powell finished with four three-pointers while Nober added three.
Reichmann led SW/DV with 11 and Toledo netted eight. Bob Wayne hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with six, as did Jeff Peters.
At the line, Narrowsburg made 15-of-27 while the Eagles were 5/14.