Friday, December 13, 2024

By Matt Pascarella

In their second game of the season, Windham varsity boys’ basketball showed they can battle against tough teams on the road. The Eagles hit the court to take on rival Gorham on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Gorham High School. These are two completely different teams from last year and Windham fought hard early in the game. Although Gorham made up some ground in the fourth quarter, Windham secured a 75-67 win.

“Coming into this game we wanted to play our best basketball and try to get better at the things we’ve been working at,” said Windham varsity boys’ basketball coach Chad Pulkkinen. At times we played pretty well and we kind of let our guard down at other times; at the end of the day our guys found a way through. Staying together (went well), continuing to keep the lead, all those things that help you win come February, March. It’s a good experience for our guys to come into a great atmosphere. Continuing to trust one another and continuing to move the basketball more; on the defensive end, shrinking space – making it harder for the offense (need work). All fixable things. We’re not trying to reinvent something new; it’s just getting better at some of the basics, we’ll get there; our guys are smart, and they’re motivated.”

Windham started the game with extreme hustle. Both teams played a fast-paced game where Windham secured turnover after turnover early on. They rebounded well and moved the ball but despite an Eagles lead, Gorham wasn’t far behind. Windham defense did make it hard for the Rams’ offense.

In the second quarter Windham junior Tyrie James hit two three-pointers. Windham sophomore Colin Janvrin also sunk a three-pointer. Moments before the first buzzer sounded, Gorham went in for the dunk and missed, and after the first half, Windham led 37-30.

“We think of every opponent as the same,” said James. “We’re going to work as hard as we can for each opponent, we’re not going to look past anyone; we’re going to try our best the entire game. We made reads of how (Gorham) played defense. We had to adjust to their offense in the first half. I think we didn’t play our best game, but everyone was playing defense, everyone was hustling, you could tell we had energy. You can always improve. Anything can get better.”

Windham held onto a substantial 10-point lead early in the third quarter. Janvrin knocked down two more three-pointers. Windham held a 15-point lead late in the third quarter.

“The mindset of the game was to … get a win by playing together as a team and keeping ourselves composed against a team we are rivals with,” said Janvrin. “I think we handled adversity well. Some things we need to work on as a team is hustling back on defense and stopping people from getting open shots.”

Five minutes remained in the game and 10 points separated the teams. Gorham worked hard to close that gap, and succeeded a little, but Windham wasn’t going to let them have this one. The gap fluctuated, but Windham remained out in front until the final buzzer.

“We knew they were a totally different team,” said Windham senior Creighty Dickson. “They got new guys, but they still shoot the ball like a lot, and we needed to come out with energy and play our defense. There were certain times when we just let off the gas and let them come back. I thought our trapping was pretty well on defense. Our ball movement in the first half wasn’t very good, but we improved in the second half.” <