Barre, Vt.
No one else could get a hold of Balch all night.
Surging for six 3-pointers in the first half — including an electric 4-for-4 from downtown in the first three minutes — Balch finished with a career-high 36 points and Windsor led throughout the fourth quarter in a 71-59 win over nemesis Williamstown.
The title gave Windsor a clean sweep of the Vermont basketball crowns following the girls’ state title win a week earlier.
There were eight lead changes and five ties, but the top-ranked Jacks outscored the No. 2 Blue Devils, 41-24, in the second half, leading by as many as 14. Senior-laden Windsor clamped down defensively while taming a Devils team looking for its second straight title and seventh in nine years. Williamstown had beaten Windsor twice in the postseason twice during that stretch, including last year’s semifinals.
“They’ve set the bar in this building, but it was our night,” said 35th-year Windsor coach Harry Ladue, at the helm for five of Windsor’s six overall titles. “Seth got us started right off, but we knew it was going to be back-and-fourth with these guys. We played a heck of a game defensively in the second half.”
Balch was spotted swishing 3s during pregame warmups, but he said he had no predetermined notion to try to connect from deep.
“In a game like this, you’ve just got to ball out and play like a dog,” said Balch, one of four senior starters and six seniors total in Windsor’s lineup. “This was the last time we’ll be playing basketball together. I just played with my heart. Sometimes, you’re just feeling it. I’ve always said, the ball feels good in my hands, and tonight, it was special.”
After a slow start for both teams, Balch’s rapid-fire 4-for-4 assault from deep made it 12-4 and set a fast-paced tempo that lasted well into the second half. The Blue Devils responded to Balch’s burst with a 13-2 run, fueled by their own 3-pointers from sophomore Jacob Tassie (team-high 22 points), Colby Gingras (12 points) and Tyler Orten to give Williamstown a 20-14 lead early in the second quarter.
Balch scored eight straight after that to give the lead back to Windsor, but Tassie hit twice more from deep and Williamstown shot 9-for-12 from the free-throw line in the second quarter to help take a 35-30 lead into halftime.
Starting the second half with the ball, Williamstown had a chance to build what would have been its largest lead. Instead it misfired from the perimeter — the start of a trend as the Devils shot just 3-for-12 from the field in third quarter — and Windsor scored five quick points on a 3 by Robert Slocum and a layup by Dakota Page to tie it less than a minute into the second half.
The Devils never led by more than one point after that, surrendering it for good on a Balch basket that made it 42-40.
Both coaches pointed to the opening sequence of the third quarter as a turning point.
“We go into halftime with a five-point lead, and they score five quick points to throw it right back at us,” said Williamstown coach Jack Carrier, whose lone returning starter from last year’s champion was senior center Nathan Poulin (12 points, 14 rebounds). “After that, it seemed like we couldn’t hit a shot. The game is about shots falling, and a lot of the ones we normally make, we couldn’t get to fall.”
After a 3-point play by Balch gave him 30 for the night and Windsor its largest lead at 50-42 early in the fourth, Ladue called timeout to emphasize rebounding and ball control. Windsor was just as effective while playing more methodically, Page hesitating and drilling a floater in the lane before Ryland Richardson drew a foul and sank both free throws to make it 54-42 with 6:02 left.
The night wouldn’t end without a little more dazzle from Balch, his swish on a fall-away jump shot capping a clock-bleeding Windsor possession before his steal and fast-break layup answered a pair of Williamstown 3s to make it 58-48 with 3:25 to go.
By then, the Devils were starting to appear gassed while the fun was just beginning for Windsor, which played 13 players to 10 for Williamstown.
“I think our depth was a big key for us tonight,” Ladue said. “We’ve gone nine or 10 deep all year and everyone contributed.”
Balch and Page both hit a pair of free throws to make it 62-48 with 1:57 to go, and Richardson iced it with a 3-point play and layup on a feed from Meagher to make it 66-53 with a minute left.
Free throws: Balch’s previous career high was 29 points in the 2016-17 season opener at Newport. … The Blue Devils finished 14-for-21 from the line; Windsor was 15-for-24. … Many of Windsor’s seniors were also teammates on Yellowjackets teams that captured consecutive D-III football crowns in 2016 and ’17 as well as a D-III baseball championship in 2016. … Tassie scored 12 in the fourth for Williamstown. … Windsor hit 37 3-pointers in its four playoff games. … The Yellowjackets improved to 6-5 all-time in finals. … James Aldrich and Bill Gokey, players on Windsor’s last championship team in 2007-08, were in attendance. “They’re much better looking now,” former Windsor athletic director Bob Hingston quipped.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.