Windsor
On a night in which visiting Newport was content to stay in a 1-3-1 zone, Windsor had six different players combine for 15 3-point baskets during a 78-59 victory at Windsor High School on Monday.
The Tigers were no slouches from 3-point land, either, dropping five bombs from beyond the arc for a combined 20 between the two foes.
It was a game between two teams desperately needing a win. Windsor opened the season with a 67-41 victory at Newport, then proceeded to drop their next seven straight. Newport, which also won its debut, followed that with four consecutive losses.
Windsor coach Harry Ladue looked at the win as perhaps a sign of things to come.
“I know it’s about time we started to put the ball in the basket, but I like what we also did defensively,” he said. “I think we’re going to be OK.”
Newport coach Greg Pickering defended the 1-3-1 zone: “That’s what we do on defense.”
What he didn’t defend was the way his players played the zone on Monday night, giving the Yellowjackets too many unchallenged shots.
“We have to come out and contend those shots,” he said. “We didn’t do that, and they shot really well.”
The Tigers also had a couple of other areas that bothered Pickering, such as too many turnovers and “we gave them to many second and third chances off the offensive boards.”
“We could have hustled more,” Pickering added.
The pace of the game was strange in that Windsor’s lead was a quiet 10-7 after one period. Then the two teams scored a combined 83 points over the next two periods, with Windsor dropping in 24 in the second period and 25 in the third.
While the Tigers trailed all night and were in arrears by 16 with 7:02 to go in the fourth quarter, there was a few moments that got Ladue’s attention enough to call a timeout. One came after Newport dropped in consecutive 3-pointers to make it 60-50 with 6:20 to play. Consequently, when Windsor came out of the timeout on scored off a Robbie Slocum steal, it felt like a big basket for the Jacks.
The second quarter saw the largest deluge of 3-pointers as eight trifectas went though the twines. But it was a 2-point shot at the second-quarter buzzer — a baseball-type heave from Slocum — that got Pickering’s attention.
“I knew that it wasn’t our night when that shot went in,” said Pickering.”
The most consistent cannoneer for the Jacks was Seth Balch, who has built such a reputation that opposing teams yell “shooter” every time he has the ball on attack. The Tigers didn’t yell quick enough — Balch buried a game-high five jacks.
Slocum and Duncan Frazer each had three long-distance connections, while Ben Meagher had two. Freshman John Thibault had two 3-balls for Newport, which welcomed back Jay Richardson to the lineup. The scrappy senior point guard had been out of the lineup with an injury since the first game of the season.
Newport received nice production from senior Noah Wood, who had a 18-point game.
“We just got to get back to practice tomorrow and see if we can correct what went wrong tonight,” Pickering said.
Newport will have four days to fix things before heading to Monadnock on Friday. Windsor is at Bellows Falls in another Friday game.