Norwood Pirates win Marionville Invitational championship

A 23-point fourth quarter helped the Norwood Pirates’ basketball team complete a rally in the championship game of the Marionville Invitational as they held on to a late lead to defeat Greenwood, 68-67.
Both Cooper Vaughan and Peyton McDaris earned a spot on the All-Tournament team as they helped the Pirates to three victories while pushing the team’s overall record to 6-0 to start the season.
In the finals against the Bluejays, the Pirates struggled out of the gate, being outscored, 19-8, in the opening quarter.
They trailed by double digits and eventually were down nine points at halftime.
McDaris paced the offense with 10 points in the first half.
Cooper Vaughan added eight points and Gunner Bradshaw had six points.
Norwood’s offense exploded in the third quarter with a 25-point frame behind McDaris’ nine points. Carder Kelly hit two big 3-pointers during the 25-18 run.
Andrew Bradshaw hit a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. McDaris would then score nine points.
Greenwood was unable to take the lead in the final seconds of the championship game and the Pirates left Marionville with the hardware.
McDaris scored a team-high 19 points; Kelly had 11; Cooper Vaughan scored 10 points; Gunner Bradshaw had nine; Noah Drake added seven points; and both Andrew Bradshaw and Gary Williams scored six points.
In the opening contest, the Pirates handed Miller their first loss of the season as they knocked off the Cardinals, 70-61.
Norwood led by eight points at halftime as Cooper Vaughan paced the team with 10 points while McDaris added  nine points.
They pushed the lead to 12 points in the third quarter as six different players scored.
Then in the fourth quarter, Miller did make seven 3-pointers. Fortunately, Kelly hit two of his own in a 20-point frame to help the Pirates to the nine-point win.
Cooper Vaughan scored a team-high 16 points; both McDaris and Drake had 12 points; Kelly had 10; Williams scored six points; both Andrew Bradshaw and Gunner Bradshaw scored five points; while Pierce Lawson added four points.
In their second game, the Pirates took on the host Comets and picked up a dominating 84-41 victory.
The Pirates led 52-21 at halftime and never looked back.
Cooper Vaughan made seven shots for 14 points in the first half while Williams scored 10 points in a 28-point second quarter for the Pirates.
Drake, who scored seven points in the first quarter, added six more in a 21-point third quarter as Norwood would go on to the easy win in a game where 12 players scored.
Cooper Vaughan had 16 points to lead all Pirates’ scorers.
Drake added 15; Williams scored 13; McDaris had nine; Andrew Bradshaw scored eight points; Lawson had seven; Hunner Finch scored four points; both Carson Vaughan and Kelly had three points; while two points were scored by three players featuring Brody Vaughan, Remington Hill and Gunner Bradshaw.