The Ohio High School Athletic Association basketball playoffs are sometimes viewed by teams as a rebirth after the regular season. But the Windham Bombers boys’ basketball team could not shake off their four-game losing streak entering the postseason and were defeated by Berlin Center Western Reserve 65-44 in the OHSAA Division VII Northeast 1 sectional championship last Friday evening in Mahoning County.
“As an overall scope of the game, I just think we came out with a really slow start in the first half and dug ourselves a really big hole leading into the second half,” said Coach Cody Apthorpe. “In the second half, our intensity and effort really increased but unfortunately we waited a little bit too long to really get things going.”
Having lost four consecutive games going into the playoffs, the third-year coach noted that Windham (11-12, 6-7) had been plagued by offensive lulls for either a quarter or an extended stretch.
The Bombers’ offense stalled in the second quarter, being outscored 24-9, and only made three field goals between senior guard Carlos Bruton and senior forward Matt Kolaczek. Windham’s only other source of offense came from senior guard Nick Hopper, who made six trips to the free throw line but only knocked down three shots.
According to Apthorpe, one of Windham’s biggest struggles on offense lately had been the lack of ball movement.
“We thought we could have been better in those games as well,” he added. “It really was not like a defining single thing that was consistent. Scoring, I think, became a problem for us as the season came to a close and defensively, we were giving up way more points than we would have liked.”
While the Bombers’ offense went cold, Western Reserve heated up as four different players scored in the period.
“Defensively, the bummer for us was that we planned for junior Connor Cochran, who is a really nice shooter and good scorer for them, and we also knew senior guard Dominic Ricciardi was a threat, but we felt like that we were just a step behind defensively,” noted Apthorpe.
The 5-foot-11 Cochran was lethal from beyond the arc, burying three 3-point shots and the 6-foot Ricciardi tallied seven points to ignite the Blue Devils’ offense.
The second quarter pushed Western Reserve’s advantage to 39-21 but the Bombers responded with a big run in the third period, trimming the lead to 12 points, thanks to the efforts of Bruton, who scored 13 points in the period.
Apthorpe said the tide appeared to be swinging in Windham’s favor and they could inch closer when Hopper attempted a steal on defense but committed a personal foul, sending the Blue Devils to the line and they assumed control from there.
Although the Bombers outscored Western Reserve by a 21-17 margin, cutting the lead to 14 points, they lost their spark in the fourth period, only scoring two points and seeing their season end in the first round for the second consecutive season.
Apthorpe acknowledged that the losing streak right before the postseason weighed heavily on his team.
“I think we were in the 19th week of the season and unfortunately when you are losing games and you are at the end of the season, it is easy to fall into a trap where you are, like, it is almost over. Unfortunately, it was over sooner than I would have liked,” he said.
With the season being over, Windham will bid adieu to a graduating class of seven players, one of the biggest upperclassmen groups Apthrope has had in his short time with Windham.
Apthorpe said the senior class left its mark on the program but emphasized that having such a large senior class was also a good sign of how prevalent the basketball culture was throughout the Windham community.
“I think the number of seniors for us this year is a testament to where basketball is at in our school,” he said. “We are extremely small enrollment-wise, but we still have a lot of kids that are wanting to be a part of the team and wanting to play basketball. I think it is a good place for Windham in terms of the interest when it comes to basketball.”
While most of the varsity starters are graduating, Apthorpe said that the Bombers will still have some strong senior leadership next year as the team expects to have six or seven returning seniors. Although the new senior class may lack the varsity experience of their predecessors, Apthorpe said he could see the potential.
“A lot of older guys are coming up in the next year, so we are hoping to have another push next season to keep trying to get better.,” he noted.
