By Nathaniel Ford
FARMINGTON – The Windham Jaguars handed the Sanborn Indians a 23-point loss, 80-57, on the opening day of the 44th Annual Mike Lee Holiday Basketball Bash in Farmington.
This game was a friendly matchup between Division I Windham and Division II Sanborn. This is Windham’s first year competing in the Bash.
“We didn’t know much about Sanborn. Finding film was tough, and they’re a Division II team,” said Windham head coach Carson Desrosiers. The Bash provides matchups across divisions, and this is a prime example of that.
The Jaguars controlled the game from the start. The first few minutes were back-and-forth, with Sanborn leading for the only time at 5-4. Windham proceeded to take charge, ending the quarter on a 17-7 run and finishing up 21-12 going into the break.
A big reason for this early lead was Windham’s offensive rebounding. “Sam Roidoulis, a freshman, was huge for us today with 4 offensive rebounds in the first quarter. We could get into a timeout and say that the freshman is providing energy,” Desrosiers said. Second-chance points were pouring in for the Jaguars.
The second quarter was close, with both teams trading baskets and the game remaining a nine-point difference, with Windham leading 34-25 heading into the break. Sanborn was paced by their two highest scorers combining for all but one point. Chase Frizzell had a game-high 15 points at halftime, and Dylan Rego added 9 at the break.
Rego is averaging 26 points a game, which is the third highest mark across Division II. “We treated him as a no-help player with all guys ready to help,” Desrosiers said. The Jaguars committed to shutting him down, as he is a big part of what makes Sanborn’s offense so dynamic.
The third quarter opened with a bang, as Windham threw down a transition dunk for the first basket of the half. Sanborn bounced back after the dunk, led by a 10-point quarter by Rego, but they could not pull closer than six points at any time. Windham went on a run towards the end of the quarter, and they entered the fourth up 56-44.
The Jaguars were finally able to blow the game open in the fourth, scoring seven points in just fifteen seconds early to thwart any chance of a Sanborn comeback. Windham carried momentum throughout the quarter, and finished with an 80-57 victory.
Windham was led by a balanced scoring attack led by four double digit scorers: Jack Begley (18), Caden Bouchard (16), Jack Murphy (12), and Tyler Jordan (10). Sanborn was paced by 20 from Chase Frizzell and 19 from Dylan Rego.
Windham looks to make waves in their Bash debut in their first bracket game against Noble on Wednesday at 12:15 pm. Sanborn looks to bounce back in their opener against Nute at 9:45 am Wednesday.
Check out the full photo gallery from the action by KJ Cardinal…