The Windham Bombers boys’ basketball team finally snapped their winless start to the season by edging Northeastern Athletic Conference Stripes Division rival Lordstown 53-48 to capture their first victory last Friday evening in Warren.
“It is something that our group has talked a lot about is gaining confidence and believing in ourselves,” said Coach Cody Apthorpe. “Unfortunately, typically the order of confidence and believing in yourself follows winning so it was extremely important for us to get a win and get a victory in that column. Hopefully that allows our players to start finding some belief.”
Although Windham (1-3, 1-0) has experienced a three-game losing streak to begin the year, it has opened league play on the right foot by winning the league opener against the Red Devils in a gritty contest. Apthorpe said that Bombers created double-digit leads several times throughout the game but the Red Devils continued to fight back.
On Friday, the Bombers’ fast start in the first quarter taking a 18-13 lead was erased in the second period as they were outscored by a 12-8 margin, and clung to a 27-25 lead at the half.
After making seven field goals in the opening quarter, Windham connected on only three in the second period.
According to the fourth-year coach, the second quarter has been one of the Bombers’ biggest struggles thus far in the early season as they have been plagued by turnovers.
“Sometimes they are self-inflicted turnovers. That is something that we continue to try and push guys to clean up and have cleaner practices when we are scrimmaging,” he added. “Certainly, in the game, that is when we have to clean up those turnovers. This, unfortunately, lead to small offensive quarters.”
The Bombers rebounded with a strong showing in the third quarter, turning the tables on Lordstown by limiting the Red Devils to only three field goals, winning the period 12-8 to increase their lead to 39-32.
Apthorpe said that as disappointing as the second quarter was, it gave Windham another chance to demonstrate its resiliency, they met the challenge.
Although the Bombers held a lead in the fourth quarter, the Red Devils continued trimming the lead. Windham stopped any comeback attempt responding with a basket time after time.
In the final period, five different Windham players scored, and four players finished the game in double figures resulting in a much-needed victory for a young Bombers’ squad.
“We had some great players that really stepped up and scored buckets in key parts of the game when we needed them,” Apthorpe noted. “They all contributed as well so it was definitely a team effort.”
Windham strongly finished the game in which they received an offensive spark from senior forward Matt Kolaczek, who ignited the Bombers with eight points in the opening period to get the team off to a quick start.
“He is a very athletic individual, pretty skilled around the rim. When he puts his mind to it and gets that aggressive urge, he is very tough to stop. The other team is checked because his athleticism or ability to just get around the rim is one of those intangible things,” Apthorpe said of Kolaczek, who finished the game with 10 points.
After a blistering first quarter, Apthorpe acknowledged that the Red Devils’ defense zeroed in on the Bombers’ senior, which required offensive contributions from other players. Although points were hard to come by in the second period, Windham’s offense rallied in the final quarter with a well-balanced offensive approach to put Lordstown away.
With the first victory in hand, Apthorpe spoke of how much of an impact the win could have on a Windham squad that returned only one starter from last year’s starting five — Kolaczek — along with only two other players who received meaningful varsity minutes – senior guard Gavin Kiser and junior guard DeJuan Ramsey.
Although the senior class is much smaller this year, with only two seniors being key contributors from last year, Apthrope said that it is a great opportunity for growth as the upperclassmen can guide the underclassmen and prepare them to inherit next year’s team.
“These seniors have not had a lot of varsity experience, but I think we should see a lot of growth from them as they fall into their roles more,” he said.
After a road duel against NAC Stripes Division foe Bristol on Tuesday and home re-match against the Panthers on Thursday night, Windham will welcome league foe Chalker to the Marty Hill Court on Friday night at 7 p.m.
