By Nathaniel Ford
Windham came away with a huge 87-53 victory today over Portsmouth Christian in the quarterfinals of The Bash.
The Jaguars proved why they are one of the top teams at the tournament this year. They controlled the entire contest against the Eagles, thwarting any chance of a comeback at any point.
Windham jumped out to an early lead behind a 7-2 run in the first minute of the game. Portsmouth Christian put together a 7-2 run of their own, but two straight and-one baskets from Jack Begley killed all of the momentum they built. Begley led the way with 11 points, and Windham was up 24-13 entering the second.Â
The Jaguars jumped out to open the quarter again, recording an 8-0 run in the first two minutes. And just like the first quarter, PCA responded immediately with an 8-2 run of their own to keep it competitive. The rest of the quarter was back-and-forth, and Windham entered the break up 44-27.
It was clear that it was a game of runs in this contest, and that trend only evolved in the second half. This time, it was PCA who strung together an early run, jumping on Windham 10-2 in the first couple of minutes, which cut the lead to single digits.
Windham’s true colors showed once again when faced with adversity. The Jaguars did not roll over, and they did not panic. Instead, Caden Bouchard connected from beyond the arc on three consecutive possessions, which brought their lead back up to 17.
Bouchard led the Eagles on this massive run with his shooting, and his defense helped lead another huge run to end the quarter. They forced multiple PCA turnovers and capitalized in transition, ending the quarter on a 12-0 run and giving them a huge 70-44 lead entering the fourth.
This lead was too great to overcome, and the Jaguars ran away with a 34 point victory. Three-point shooting was critical to their victory, with Windham knocking down 11 from downtown.
Leading the way for the Jaguars was 21 points from Bouchard, as well as 16 from Begley and 15 from Jackson Blanco. Portsmouth Christian was led by a game-high 23 points from Cai Summers, while Connor Hickey added 19 of his own.
Windham advances to the semifinal round to face the Profile Patriots, who took down the Coe-Brown Bears earlier today in their quarterfinal matchup.
Check out the photo gallery by KJ Cardinal…