Windsor — One aspect the Windsor high and Mill River High boys basketball teams have had in common over the years is defense.

Harry Ladue has successfully used his pressure defense for a long time with the Yellowjackets, but on Tuesday night it was the Minutemen’s defense that ruled the roost in a 56-44 triumph.

“It’s always the defense with us,” Mill River coach Jack Rogers said. “I learned about the man-to-man defense from one the best (Dave Kinsman), and that’s what we do. ”

A major concern for Rogers was keeping track of Windsor sharpshooter Seth Balch, and that assignment was given to senior Austin MacMurray, who held Balch to just four points.

“He was on him pretty good tonight,” Rogers said.

Added Ladue: “Seth has to score for us to be be successful.”

But Windsor (1-2) had other issues on Tuesday.

“We didn’t pass the ball well, and we didn’t get a lot of good shots,” Ladue said. “It was a total team defeat.”

And Mill River had all of that success without senior captain Rodney Stork, who is sidelined with mononucleosis.

The top gun for the Minutemen was junior D.J. Nichols, who scorched the nets for 25 points, including five long bombs from 3-point land. Nichols picked up the slack as Mike Morgan, who recently had 31 points against Rutland, was limited to six points on Tuesday.

“It was nice that we spread the scoring around,” Rogers said of his Minutemen (2-1).

While the final score showed that it appeared to be a decent game, it wasn’t. While Windsor stayed within reach of the Minutemen, the Jacks never were able to put a long run together to put up a serious challenge.

“We’ve got to get a little tougher on defense,” Ladue said, “and when we get good shots, we have to take advantage of them. We didn’t do that tonight.”

The only Yellowjacket who had any success from the floor was Dakota Page, who had a 17-point night.

The game took a turn in the second quarter. It was only a 12-9 Mill River lead after one period, but the Minutemen went on a 9-0 run in the second and boosted the gap to 30-18 at the half. The lead got to 38-21 at one point in the third period and 43-29 at the end of three quarters.

“You know, we were very cautious about what could happen in the second half,” Rogers said. “Every coach talks about how scary it is to play in Windsor. Don’t get me wrong, this is a wonderful gym, but it is a tough place to play.”

Both teams play on the road on Thursday. Windsor visiting Fair Haven and Mill River heading to Woodstock.