It’s barely a week old, but the year 2026 already agrees with Morris’ Landon Norris.

After scoring a career-high 18 points in a win over Sandwich last Saturday, Norris – a senior guard – upped the ante and delivered a new career best with 22 points Thursday in a 63-53 win over Plano. It marks the fourth straight triumph for Morris (6-6) and five wins in its last six games.

Not only was Norris the driving force for Morris scoring-wise, but his ball-handling ability helped his team break the Plano pressure that gave them fits coming out of halftime.

“This was a really fun game,” Norris said. “Their pressure took us a little bit to figure out in the second half, but once we did, we were able to break it and score.

“We’re really happy with four straight wins. We are playing a lot more together as a team. We had very long practices during the Christmas break, and we are seeing that work pay off. Everyone contributed tonight, and this was a big confidence boost for us.”

Plano (8-8) led 40-39 entering the fourth quarter, but Morris got a basket by Caden Medler (four points, seven rebounds) and one by Hayden Macdonald (eight points, six rebounds) to take a 43-40 lead. Plano’s Cooper Beaty answered with a three-point play to tie the game before Luis Loza (seven points) gave Morris the lead for good with a 3-pointer from the right corner.

Plano pulled to within 52-50 with 1:57 to play on a three-point play by Alan Contreras (team-high 13 points), but Norris scored on a fast break and was fouled after a Plano turnover, making both free throws for a 56-50 Morris lead. A putback by Macdonald put Morris ahead 58-50 with just over a minute to play, and the Morris defense did the rest, limiting Plano to three free throws the rest of the way.

“It all starts with our team defense,” Morris coach Joe Blumberg said. “Luis Loza and his effort at the point of our defense was huge. We had RJ Kennedy scoring both inside and outside, Hayden Macdonald was cleaning up on the boards, and Landon and Brycen Johnson did a good job of making good decisions.

“We had good balance in scoring again, like we did against Sandwich when we had three players in double figures and another with eight. We were aggressive and took some layups in situations where before we might have pulled the ball out. That’s the attitude of this group.”

Plano got out to a 6-2 lead early before Kennedy scored underneath twice in a row off assists from Loza to tie it. Plano led 10-9 when Norris hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Kennedy (11 points, eight rebounds). Medler followed with a pair of free throws before Braylon Schmidt scored for Plano to make it 14-12. Norris ended the quarter with a 3-pointer, and Morris took a 17-12 lead into the second.

The Reapers began the second quarter with consecutive fast-break baskets by Jayden Zepeda (nine points) to move to within 17-16. The two teams traded blows the rest of the half, and it was tied at 27 at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, both Loza and Norris picked up third fouls for Morris and sat the rest of the period. Plano was able to grab a 37-35 lead on a pair of free throws by Eric Nunez (five points) before Morris’ Austin Delahera put back his own miss to tie it. Taxis drained a 3-pointer for Plano, and a pair of Kennedy free throws made it 40-39 entering the fourth.

“This was a typical Morris-Plano game,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “We know they are going to be physical, and they were. We didn’t have a lot of attention to detail on defense.

“We hadn’t played since the Christmas tournament, so we’re still looking to get back into the groove. It felt like we did enough to win, but when Morris went to their zone, it gave us trouble.

“The final was a 10-point difference, but that’s not an indication of how close it was most of the way.”

Morris switched to a 1-3-1 zone in the third quarter and some of the fourth while Loza and Norris were on the bench, and that seemed to stymie the Reapers.

“We had to go to the 1-3-1 to protect our guys that were in foul trouble,” Blumberg said. “I am very proud of the way our guys played tonight. Everyone who got on the floor tonight did their job well.”