WINDSOR- The Winsdor High boys’ basketball hosted Mill River on Saturday morning for their senior game after being postponed from Friday night due to the weather. They handled the visiting Mill River boys, winning 47-33 to improve to 17-3 and clinch the number one seed in the division 3 playoffs.
The first quarter was well-fought, with both teams struggling to put the ball in the basket. The Yellowjackets’ full-court press set the tone for a defensive slugfest. Five first quarter points from Windsor senior forward Ben Meagher helped them gain the lead, 8-7, at the end of the first frame.
Mill River started the second quarter with layups from both seniors DJ Nichols and Brian Eaton to take the lead 11-8. After that, Windsor went on an 11-1 run, as their defensive pressure was starting to pay dividends. A steal by senior Dakota Page led to a three-pointer by Meagher and moments later, a steal by senior Seth Balch led to another Meagher basket. Windsor’s troubles rebounding late in the second quarterkept the Minutemen alive, as the score at half was Windsor 19 Mill River 14.
The third quarter is when the Yellowjackets started to pull away. After a free throw by Mill River sophomore Tyler Shelvey, Windsor strung together a 7-0 run to push the lead to 26-17, thanks to two free-throws from junior Robert Slocum, a three by senior Seth Balch, and a lefty-layup by Balch after another steal by Page. Then, Mill River put together a 7-2 run of their own. A deep two-point jumper from Minutemen freshman Aidan Botti, a jumper from Nichols, and then a baseline lefty reverse and-one layup from Nichols brought the point difference to within six at the 1:32 mark, 28-22. However, that would be the closest that Mill River would get to catching Windsor. The Yellowjackets would hit five free-throws and extend their lead to 33-22 going into the final frame.
The fourth quarter opened with a steal by Windsor junior Dakohta Sanderson that led to two made free throws by senior Duncan Frazer on a shooting foul. After a layup by Mill River’s Eaton that made the score 35-24, Windsor caught fire from three and sent the gym into a frenzy. In just over a minute, Windsor hit three straight threes, one from Meagher on the left wing and then two in a row from junior Hunter Grela, extending the Yellowjacket’s lead to 44-24 with 4:53 remaining. Mill River put on a 1-3-1 full-court trap to try to get back in the game and rattled off a little run, but the Yellowjacket lead was too much and the Minutemen fell short.
Speaking on how the Yellowjackets’ full- court press impacted the game, Windsor head coach Harry Ladue said, “We were trying to keep the game going faster, that’s the way we like to play. We got a couple turnovers out of it and then finally in the third quarter we started making some shots.” It was easy to tell that the Windsor defense had their hands all over the game, but it was a matter of them making shots, which they started doing in the second half.
When asked about his group of seniors, coach Ladue had this to say: “It’s been a great group… in the community, they do a lot of things… they really respect each other. They play hard and share the ball… and they know what’s at stake.”
What is at stake now is protecting the number one seed in the playoffs. “We’re going to have two home games. That was a goal at the beginning of the year. And then, on to Barre, and hopefully we make some noise up there,” said coach Ladue.
For Mill River, Chad Young led the way with 13 points and Eaton chipped in with 6. For Winsdsor, Slocum scored 16 while Meagher and Balch each added 13.
By Kameron Towle
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