Biggest shot in school history: Norwell boys basketball captures first-ever title
LOWELL — Wow.
Just... wow.
Ronan Coffey saved his best game, and his best shot, for last.
While walking out of the tunnel at Tsongas Center, John Willis, the fixture head coach of the Norwell High boys basketball team for 31 years, made a declaration that only he has the qualifications to make: Ronan Coffey hit the biggest shot in school history.
"As soon as he released it, I just knew it was going in," he said.
Coffey received a pass from teammate Charlie Williams after an offensive rebound and frantically fired up a 3-pointer from the left wing at the buzzer to force overtime vs. No. 20 Old Rochester in the Division 3 state championship on Friday.
The shot dropped and Norwell prevailed in the extra period, 64-61, to complete its perfect season with the program's first-ever state championship. Coffey finished with 30 points.
“We could stay here until tomorrow night talking about Ronan Coffey," Willis said. "Ronan Coffey is one of the best players I’ve ever coached. Ronan’s a winner. It’s not an accident the ball found him. It’s not an accident that he stuck it. That’s what he’s all about."
Coffey's equalizer followed a Norwell timeout, down 54-51, with 17.5 seconds remaining. The play was ran for senior Nick Adams (12 points), who ran free off a series of screens and shot a fadeaway 3-pointer from the right corner, which nearly banked in, with six seconds left.
The ball caromed off the rim with just enough time for Williams, a 6-foot-5 sophomore center, to snag the offensive rebound and wisely find Coffey in the final moment.
“We ran our play, the play we wanted," Coffey said. "We got a good shot (from Adams). That’s why we make our plays to shoot with four, five seconds (left). We get that rebound and you just got to hit the shot.”
It was Coffey's sixth 3-pointer of the evening. Coffey then scored eight of Norwell's 10 points in overtime and knocked down 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch.
“I almost shed a tear, personally," senior Oliver Rice said.
“When it left his fingertips, I knew we had a shot at going to OT," senior Will Bostrom said. "We used that momentum to finish out the game.”
The win caps the Clippers' perfect 25-0 season. Willis said at no point did the concept of pursuing perfection enter the conversation during the season.
No. 2 Norwell finishes the season with 17 wins by a greater margin than 20 points. Entering Friday's championship, the team had won its 24 games by an average of 25.8 points.
Norwell's closest game all year was the title-clincher.
"This is why you play the sport, for games like these," sophomore Jack Luccarelli said.
The senior class of Coffey, Adams, Rice and Bostrom will graduate in the spring of 2025 having suffered their final high school basketball loss in 2024, when the Clippers lost in overtime to Taconic, 51-47, in the Elite Eight.
“That’s not something you think of," Bostrom said. "You don’t think of an undefeated, 25-0 season. We’ve never won a state championship so obviously it’s unexpected, but with this team, you can’t really say it is.”
“We’ve had some good teams and haven’t done it," Willis said of the title. "This group was special. I knew it when I had them in basketball camp when they were young. They had great coaches in youth. I got them when they were freshmen and every year they’ve gotten better and better. Those that have seen them play a lot know how unselfish they are.”
Norwell led, 25-2, at halftime and clung onto a five-point lead in the second half as Old Rochester's Gavin Martin poured in 27 points and nearly willed his 20th-seeded team to its fourth upset of the tournament.
Adams buried an acrobatic layup in overtime, though, and halted an ORR fast break with a steal shortly after at the 15.8-second mark of overtime to protect a 60-58 Norwell edge. Adams finished with 3 blocks and 3 steals.
Luccarelli, the Clippers' 6-foot-2 bruiser in the low post, had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals: “He’s always 100%, even 110%," Bostrom said. "There’s never a moment on the court where he’s on the court with his hands on his knees. We call him ‘Beast.’ The name is pretty self-explanatory. He’s always on beast mode.”
After the final buzzer sounded, Willis, with tears in his eyes, had the game ball in hand as he walked off the court and greeted the fan section of Norwell parents, family and friends.
No moment in his 31-year tenure was sweeter than this one.
“These guys were geared up for this run," Willis said. "We caught a break tonight, a couple breaks, but you know what? It’s about time we did. They deserve it. Credit to the kids. They won this game."
Monday after Thanksgiving
‘
‘I just had to play the game.”
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norwell High boys basketball defeats Old Rochester in MIAA state final
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