WINDSOR, Vt. – A balanced attack by the Yellow Jackets was too much for Green Mountain on Tuesday night, as the Chieftains got close towards the end, but clutch foul shooting by Windsor sealed the win, 56-49.
The Chieftains led after the first quarter, 16-9, but couldn’t find the basket over the next eight minutes as Windsor applied their press to take a 28-16 lead into the locker room. Owen Abrahamsen’s back-to-back hoops got the Windsor engine running as Dakohta Sanderson, Hunter Grela and Robert Slucom all fueled the 19-0 run while the swarming press disrupted any GM tempo.
“That press that Windsor throws at you is so dejecting to teams and it hurt us in the second quarter tonight,” said GM head coach Brian Rapanotti.
Ty Merrill finally found the bottom of the net for GM and when James Anderson connected on both free throws late in the third quarter, the Windsor lead was just 40-37 with eight minutes left.
“GM is a really good team and they matched our intensity in the third quarter,” said Slocum after the game.
John Cook’s bucket and foul shot pushed the Windsor lead to 45-37 as Windsor started out the final frame with momentum, but GM quickly stole it. They sawed their way back into it with Sawyer Pippin’s three pointer and Anderson’s free throw after a steal, and the Yellow Jackets were only up 49-47 with a minute remaining.
Cook canned both of his free throws and Slocum made 4 straight from the charity stripe to push the lead back up to 55-47 as Windsor connected on 7 of 8 attempts from the line in the final 60 seconds.
“We practice game situations all the time and tonight we ran our plays the right way and made our foul shots when we needed to,” said Slocum.
Windsor head coach Harry Ladue called the game a “solid team effort.” “We were able to use our press and that disrupted GM but our interior passing and balanced attack really helped us pick up a win tonight,” added Ladue.
The Yellow Jackets’ Sanderson would lead all scorers with 21 points while Slocum’s 17 points, Cook’s 13 points and Abrahamsen’s 12 points rounded out the Windsor players in double figures. Merrill ended the night with 18 points for GM while Brooks Ordway-Smith chipped in with 12 points.
Windsor (8-5) will head to Woodstock on Wednesday while Green Mtn. (6-6) will entertain Poultney on Friday.
In JV action, Sawyer Pippin and Everett Mosher each had 12 points each points as Green Mtn. topped Windsor 47-40 in a very entertaining game. Ethan Lawyer poured in 25 points for Windsor.
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