Whips are the choice for athlete of the year

Jun. 30—Rich Zalusky and I were talking a few weeks ago in preparation for the return of our Athlete of the Year tab.

Who, pray tell, would we select as the area's male athlete of the year?

Zeus and myself quickly came to a consensus. It was only fitting that the Windham High boys hoop team, every single last Whippet player and coach, would be honored as our male athletes of the year.

There was simply no better way to honor the Whips after they whipped up a magical season.

Head coach Paul Martineau and his assistants, Jack Jenkins and Mark Robinshaw, believed that their Windham High boys basketball team just might be talented enough to make some noise in the Eastern Connecticut Conference and beyond this season.

Breaking down their season into stages once Martineau and Co. welcomed their Whips to pre- season camp on Dec. 1, Windham's coaching staff believed their lofty goals would be well within their collective reach.

" I thought we would be good from Day 1," recalled Martineau.

"But we had a lot of unanswered questions due to not being together as a complete unit until probably after the Killingly loss."

That happened to be the night of Jan. 14 when Martineau ' celebrated' his birthday on a bumpy bus ride home from Killingly with his Whippets following a 58-49 loss that dropped their record to 2- 5.

" We had a lot of catching up to do," admitted Martineau.

COVID-19 protocols prevented the Whippets from practicing or playing games with a full roster as the season began. They took their lumps in the form of season- opening blowout losses to Bacon Academy and Stonington, responded when junior guard Travis Mangual was cleared to play with victories over Wheeler and Bacon Academy, then fell three games under .500 with losses at RHAM, St. Bernard and Killingly.

A 4- game win streak followed before a loss to Stonington evened Windham's record at 6- 6.

" Obviously the addition of Travis has been the main key to our season," Martineau said of Mangual, the area's all- everything player who averaged 25.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.6 steals for their Whippets.

" In a weird way, the early layoff of missing players helped develop a few players that gained confidence which has helped us jell and add to our team chemistry."

And the Whips hit the cruise- control button by winning 10 straight games — eight to close out the regular season with a 14-6 record, then two more in the ECC tournament before matching up once again with Stonington, this time with the ECC Division II tourney title on the line at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Whips fell to the Bears for the third time this season, 65- 62, when a buzzer- beating 3- point try to extend the game to overtime caromed off the back rim.

" I was trusted with the last shot to tie it," said Whippet freshman Malcolm Hunter.

" So to take the biggest shot of the championship game on the biggest stage with all eyes on you got me used to the big moments when the clock hit zero."

The ' big moments' presented themselves to the Whips once the Division V state tourney began.

In a first-round victory over No. 25 seed Bacon Academy, eighth- seeded Windham parlayed 19 points and nine boards by 6-5 junior center Isaiah Mangual, a 17- 7 game from Travis Mangual and nine points each by freshman guard Julian Cruz and senior Jayden Villafane into a 61- 48 triumph.

Travis ( 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals) and Isaiah Mangual ( 15 points, 6 boards) led their Whips to a 57-53 second-round win over No. 9 Stafford.

Windham escaped with a 51- 49 quarterfinal- round victory over Portland thanks to big games from Travis Mangual ( 20 points) and Hunter (13).

After Isaiah Mangual (13 points) and Hunter (3 more 3s) set the table before Travis Mangual cleared it with a three from the top of the key at the buzzer to beat Windsor Locks, 53-50, in the semifinals, the Whips were headed back to The Sun.

" I told them, ' Hey, we have a chance to go back to the Mohegan Sun. We can do this. We're capable of it'. said Martineau.

" I could tell shortly after that they started to believe it."

The Whippets believed it all the way into the history books, building a double- digit lead, losing it, then seizing the momentum in the Division V title game against No. 2 SMSA on the morning of March 19.

And when the final buzzer of the season had sounded, Isaiah Mangual had scored a game-high 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the floor with six rebounds.

" After watching them, I knew they couldn't guard me," said Isaiah, who averaged a double- double ( 12.2 points, 10.6 rebounds) this season.

Travis Mangual finished with 11 points, six rebounds and dished off four assists.

Hunter buried 5- of- 10 3- point attempts, including 3- of- 4 in the game- turning third quarter alone, finished with 20 points and made 73 3-pointers during his freshman campaign.

Villafane added four points and four assists while junior guard Jack Jenkins added a pair of dagger threes and four steals.

The end result was a huge 62- 56 win for the Whips ( 21- 7) over SMSA ( 22- 5) to secure the program's first state title since the 1940-41 squad won the Class A crown, 25-24, over Bristol.

A huge victory that stamped all of the Whips as our male athletes of the year.