NORWELL – In front of a packed house, No. 7 Norwell and Abington faced off in a back-and-forth affair that either side could have stolen.
But it was the Clippers that got three three-pointers in overtime to get a huge 69-63 victory over Abington in a South Shore League crossover tilt.
“Both of these teams play super hard,” said Norwell coach John Willis. “(Abington) is a really good team and we are a very good team. They’ve got more depth than people realize. They have a lot of help. Guys come up big off the bench.”
In the overtime, senior captain Nick Adams (17 points) hit two of his three triples to push the lead out to 63-56.
“(Adams) is an unselfish player,” Willis said. “He plays great defense and stuck with one of the best players (Kingston Maxwell) in the area.”
Sophomore Jack Luccarelli also hit a triple in overtime as he finished with 17, including eight straight in the second quarter to make it 29-21.
“Jack is another one,” said Willis. “He’s capable of getting 20 points a night and he’s had some big, big games. He’s not selfish and he shares the ball. He rebounds like a bull and he can handle it. He can do just about everything on the floor.”
Abington would get a bucket from junior captain Kingston Maxwell to cut the deficit to 29-23 at the break.
Ronan Coffey led Norwell (15-0) with 18 points on the night.
Norwell came out strong in the third to go up by double digits twice as Kingston Maxwell tried to will Abington (13-3) back into the contest with 10 of his game-high 24 in the third as the Green Wave trailed 41-35 after three.
In the fourth, senior captain Jake McSharry netted 10 of his 14 points to get the Green Wave even closer and the timely shooting for junior captain Tyler Staiti (10 points) knotted the score 53-53 with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
Abington would get the ball back, but the defense for the Clippers forced the overtime period.
In a first half that saw 10 lead changes and seven ties, Norwell came away with a 16-14 advantage after one after a triple for junior captain Keegan O’Hare went down after the team started 1-of-6 from deep.
Next up, Norwell will host East Bridgewater on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Abington faces Oliver Ames at home Wednesday at 6:30 p.m