The #1-seeded Windsor boys basketball team took on the #5 seed, Thetford Academy, on Thursday night in the semifinals at the Barre Auditorium.
The game was well-fought and remained neck –and-neck most of the game due to how similar the teams were. “The matchups are pretty good. They’re as quick as we are. They play hard. If you play hard, you’re going to stay in the game,” said Windsor head coach Harry Ladue. Windsor senior, Seth Balch, also noted how evenly matched the teams were, saying “For every good player we have, they have. So it’s a tough matchup. A lot of quick guards.”
The game was back-and-forth all first half, with both teams going on little runs of their own. After the first, Windsor held the lead 13-12. It wasn’t until the final minute of the first half that the Yellowjackets would create any sort of separation. After a layup by Thetford’s Eli Dunnet with 59 seconds on the clock, Windsor responded with a crafty layup by Balch in the lane with 44 seconds left, and on their next possession, Hunter Grela would hit a big three for Windsor with 3 seconds left on the clock to head into the half with the lead, 29-24.
In the third frame, the Yellowjackets would get the lead up to nine at the 3-minute mark after big offensive rebound by Ryland Richardson, who then kicked it out to Dakota Page, who sank a three-pointer from the right-wing to give Windsor the lead 39-30. Thetford would respond, however, as Owen Deffner would hit back-to-back layups to close to gap and keep the game close. At the end of three, Windsor held the lead, 42-36.
The Yellowjackets would start the fourth quarter on a hot-streak, going up by 11 after a 5-0 run. Balch would hit a three from the left-corner at the 3:25 mark, erupting Windsor’s fans and giving Windsor a 50-40 lead. Thetford would once again have an answer, as they did all night. They went on an 8-0 run over a two-minute stretch, with two layups apiece from Deffner and Alex Emerson.
On how Thetford Academy was able to get back into the game late, coach Ladue said, “We started turning it over and we didn’t get any shots. We had a chance to put them away. Gotta give them credit, they made the plays and we didn’t.” Seth Balch, on Thetford’s late run, said, “There’s a lot of runs in basketball. It’s all about momentum. We’ve got an old team with six seniors and I’ve been to Barre three straight years now. It’s about knowing what it’s like.”
With 49 seconds remaining, Page would go to the line and hit two clutch free-throws, extending the lead to 52-48. On Thetford’s next possession, Windsor’s defense put the clamps on and forced a tough, long three, and then after letting up an offensive rebound, forced another contested shot that missed from the left-baseline, and the Yellowjackets secured the ball.
After Windsor would miss the front-end of a one-and-one, Thetford rebounded and called a timeout with 17.2 seconds left. Out of their timeout, a broken play somehow ended in a good look for Thetford from three, but the shot misfired. After a scrum for the rebound, Windsor senior Ben Meagher corralled the ball on the floor and called a heads-up timeout with just a few seconds remaining to seal the Yellowjacket win.
On Meagher’s rebound, coach Ladue said, “He had the clutch rebound. Got on the ground, got the timeout. That’s big. That’s our senior knowing what to do.”
It was this kind of experience by his group that coach Ladue credited post-game. He said, “They’ve been here. They shouldn’t be scared. They should expect to win and just be happy being here. My bench played great. They came in and gave us great minutes. They came in and got us up eight in the fourth quarter… did what they had to do. Their guys had to play a lot of minutes… maybe they didn’t have any gas at the end.” Balch also had a similar response: “We got a lot of experience, we got a lot of athletes and we got a really, really hungry team. Losing in the semis the last two years leaves an awful taste in your mouth. We weren’t going to come back here and let it happen to us again.”
Balch led the Yellowjackets with 16 points, while Page added 10 and Adam Stapleton scored 8 of his own. For Thetford Academy, Deffner scored 17 and Dylan Thorburn added 14.
When asked what the key was to Windsor’s victory on Thursday night, Balch said “Everybody on this team wants to win. You won’t find a single kid that doesn’t put winning first. When you have a group like that, that’s really special. When it’s not about the individual, but it’s about whatever it takes to win the game and make the team better.”
The Yellowjackets move on to play Williamstown in the championship game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Barre Auditorium.
By Kameron Towle, sports editor
Thank you to Zabrina Campney for the photos
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.