Pontiac: Zach Norvell steps up, dominates Bloomington

PONTIAC — Pretty much everything was going wrong for Simeon on Wednesday: tons of missed free-throws, tons of turnovers. Bloomington had the Wolverines on the ropes for three quarters, but a stellar effort from senior Zach Norvell keyed Simeon’s 77-62 win in the quarterfinals of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

Norvell finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds.

“That’s what he can do,” Simeon coach Robert Smith said. “He doesn’t have to put up numbers like that all the time, but we needed it today.”

Sophomore Talen Horton-Tucker made three three-pointers in a crucial stretch of the game. He finished with 11 points, it was his best performance on varsity.

“That was big,” Norvell said. “I know he’s pretty good, so it was nice for everyone else to see that.”

Josh Thomas added 20 points and six rebounds and Evan Gilyard scored 16. Simeon (7-1) turned the ball over 23 times and shot 12-for-28 from the free throw line.

“If I was the other team I would just put the bench in and foul,” Smith said. “Get us to the free throw line and then sub the starters back in and just win the game. We can’t make free throws.”

Dazon Farris led Bloomington (7-3) with 17 points and Patrick Fisher added 13.