Late run lifts Windham boys basketball over Hollis Brookline

HOLLIS – Todd Steffanides is no different than any other high school boys basketball coach.

When it comes to free throws, the Windham High School coach doesn’t hesitate when stressing their importance to his players. But on Tuesday, the Jaguars experienced firsthand just how important they are.

Windham went 9 for 9 from the line in the final four-plus minutes as the Jaguars erased an eight-point deficit with an 18-4 run to beat Hollis Brookline 50-44 in a Division II game. As a team, Windham was 14 of 18 from the line, while the Cavaliers were just 9 of 16, including 2 of 5 in the final quarter.

“It’s the reason why teams win or lose games, free throws,” Steffanides said. “It was a big reason why we came out on top (Tuesday). To come from eight down with about four minutes left in the fourth, to win in that fashion is a testament to your internal fortitude, for a lack of a better term.”

Andrew Lowman led all scorers, dropping in 14 for the Jaguars, while Tucker Lippold hit four 3-pointers for his 12 points and David Carbonello added 11, including 7 of 7 from the line.

But it wasn’t just the free throws that won it for the Jaguars. Windham (3-0) brought more defensive pressure in the final quarter, forcing the Cavs (2-1) to play a little more uptempo than they might have liked.

“Their energy level picked up a little bit, they tried to speed us up and they succeed in doing that, even though we practiced that in the last couple days,” HB coach Mike Soucy said. “We made sure that we were always poised and composed, and we didn’t do a good job of that.”

Ryan Papineau came off the bench to lead HB with 11 points, while Daniell Bentall added eight and Logan Blake chipped in with seven. Shea Whalen added six blocks, but had just six points after getting into foul trouble in the first half.

The frustrating part for Soucy was how much the loss resembled a game HB had played just a few weeks ago.

“We didn’t learn anything from the Nashua South game (in the Chick-fil-A Holiday Tournament) because they are mirror images,” Soucy said. “The fourth quarters are mirror images of each other. We built a nice lead in the third and extended it a little in the fourth and then gave it away. We’ve got to learn from it.”

HB jumped out to an early lead, but Windham closed the first quarter on a 13-2 run to go up 15-10, and led 24-20 at halftime. The Cavs stormed out of the gate in the second half, opening the third on a 8-0 run, with Whalen scoring four points and picking up two assists.

“It’s hard to guard 6-6 at times,” Steffanides said of Whalen. “Whalen is certainly a distracter when he’s on defense and he’s tough to keep off the boards when he’s on offense. We started throwing a halfcourt trap at them and drop back into a zone. Their height inside, we were trying to keep them from gaining post-entry on us.”

While the zone worked well in the first half, the Cavs made adjustments in the second, and when Windham closed within one, 31-30 with 2:58 left in the third, HB answered with a 9-2 run. Up 40-32 with 5:03 left in the game, the Cavs appeared to be in control, but a foul, a turnover and another foul led to a three-point play for Windham’s Tyler Masone, and things started to unravel.

“The one thing my boys need to figure out is how to maintain their emotions,” Soucy said. “I think they let that affect them way too much. I told them, it’s frustrating, because I know how good we can be. We’ve just got to figure that part of it.”

Windham has a quick turn around, as it heads to Milford on Wednesday for a makeup game before hosting Pelham on Friday. HB is off until it hosts ConVal Friday.