No upset this year: Windsor boys basketball flies past Falcon in 5A playoff opener
WINDSOR — The playoff nerves were obvious.
The Windsor High School boys basketball team, upset in its first playoff game a year earlier, turned the ball over on two of the first three possessions Thursday night to start its Class 5A playoff opener.
Windsor had a bye in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs a year ago and lost its second-round game at home, to No. 28 seed Palmer Ridge.
Could it happen again? Not this time.
With six seniors who were left licking their wounds after that first-round loss a year ago, the Wizards (20-4) knew how to handle the pressure Thursday.
They settled down, worked the ball around on offense to find the open man and rolled to an 83-55 win over visiting Falcon (13-11).
Not to worry.
“Last year, we lost in the first round, so we were a little uptight,” said David Hageman, one of those six seniors and the Wizards’ leading scorer. “But in the second half, we got better and better.”
By the middle of the third quarter, Windsor might as well have been running fast-break drills in practice. The Wizards turned more than a half-dozen steals at one end of the floor into runaway layups at the other end.
Windsor’s 17-point halftime lead ballooned to nearly 30.
Windsor, the No. 3 seed, moves on to face No. 19 seed Palmer (14-10) in a second-round game at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“That was my message to them pretty much the whole game was just relax, because I could see it,” coach Jon Rakiecki said. “They were all just tight, and we needed to get the game done with, play well, which we did, and move on.”
Here are a few takeaways from the Windsor win:
Teamwork fuels Windsor’s 14-game winning streak
Windsor extended its winning streak to 14 straight games.
The key, Hageman said, has been teamwork and unselfish play.
“We’re getting more than 20 assists a game as a team together and lots of rebounds,” he said. “We’re just looking out for each other.”
Hageman, the Wizards’ leading scorer, led the way Thursday night with 15 points. But Clay Wright scored 14, Colby Shuck had 10 and four others scored eight points or more.
“The boys are just kind of believing in themselves and believing in the system,” Rakiecki said. “Really, I think the difference has been how unselfish we are. We really share the ball; it doesn’t stick. And that makes us unique and different and pretty darned hard to guard.”
Takeaways:No. 3 Fossil Ridge survives early blitz to hold off Chaparral in 6A playoff opener
Loss at Fort Collins was turning point for Wizards
Rakiecki said the Wizards turned the corner on their season following a 62-44 loss Dec. 6 at Fort Collins, the No. 6 seed in the Class 6A playoffs.
“We were frustrated,” Rakiecki said. “We had played a difficult schedule. We really had to sit down with the kids and work through that it was a tough schedule, and we had ways to get better.
“That was really the turning point for our team, because after Christmas break, we went down and won three straight games against 6A opponents (Legend, Eaglecrest and Cherokee Trail) in the Legend tournament.”
Windsor has only lost one game since that loss at Fort Collins, falling 53-48 at Longmont in its Northern Conference opener Jan. 11.
Sweet 16 bound:Fort Collins boys basketball team wins first playoff game since 2017
Postseason opener delayed by snow day
The Falcon-Windsor game was one of just two boys Class 5A playoff games played Thursday, postponed because of a snow day for the Windsor-Severance (Weld RE-4) School District.
The delay gives Windsor one less day to prepare for Palmer, a 67-65 winner Wednesday night at Grand Junction Central.
But it really shouldn’t faze his team much, Rakiecki said.
“This is, I think, the third straight year where we’ve had snow interfere with playoff games,” he said. “It’s just something we have to be flexible about and adapt to, just kind of take it and move on.
“We lost the day, but Palmer had to drive to Grand Junction and back. It all evens out. It really doesn’t matter, because once it tips, we’ve just got to play.”
More:Windsor girls dismantle Northfield to kickstart potential return to Coliseum, state finals
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Windsor boys basketball rolls over Falcon in Colorado 5A playoff opener
