By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A slow start for Windham on Friday night left the Bombers facing an 18-point halftime deficit that was too much to overcome in a 57-49 loss to Southington Chalker.

“For them to be on pace to score 72 points at halftime, that puts us in a really difficult spot to win,” Windham head coach Cody Apthorpe said. “For us, offense has been scarce, so when that’s happening and we’re giving up that kind of a first half, it’s really hard to overcome them scoring 36 in two quarters and us having 18.”

Apthorpe praised the effort and balanced scoring attack that Southington produced in their eight-point victory.

“I thought Southington played well tonight,” Apthorpe said. “I thought they played hard. They had some really nice things that they did and it was very balanced and I didn’t think any one guy for them completely dominated…They’re hungry to win also. Both of our programs, we’ve struggled. We’ve had a slow start to the season and unfortunately, I think they just came out hungrier to start the game from the jump.”

In the first half, Chalker used a full-court press to create turnovers and scored points on both fastbreaks and in halfcourt sets. Chalker led 9-5 in the first quarter and then went on a 7-0 run that consisted of a three-pointer by senior Zach Pack, a runner from senior Tanner Kelson, and a layup by junior Tegun Noble after he received a long bounce pass from Kelson. The first quarter ended with Chalker leading 22-10. The Wildcats continued their strong offensive attack in the second period and went to the locker room with a 36-18 halftime advantage.

“I really think … not being fully ready at the beginning of the game, that was a huge part of our turnovers … our focus in our decision making was just much better once we locked in,” Apthorpe said.

The Bombers faced a challenge early in the game when senior forward Matt Kolaczek picked up his second foul in the first quarter.

“Matt is an absolute key component for our team and recently here we’ve gotten into some early foul trouble,” Apthorpe said. “We tried to protect him for some minutes there and inevitably we ended up putting him back in in the first quarter, even with two fouls, just to produce some offense.”

In the second half, the Bombers played with a higher level of energy as they pressured the Chalker ball-handlers, created turnovers, and scored points both in the paint and from the 3-point line. Apthorpe said he thought turning up the heat on the Wildcat guards helped his team chip away at the lead.

“I think that sped them up a little bit, which led to some turnovers for us on our end,” he said. If we had to play the game over again, that’s probably something that we do earlier in the game.”

The Bombers opened the second half with a 12-2 run to cut Chalker’s lead to 38-30 with about 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Kolaczek made four of six free throws, junior Dejuan

Ramsey made a layup on a drive, sophomore Keegan Kiser swished a pair of foul shots and senior Louden Collins converted a layup after getting a steal. At the end of the third quarter, Windham trailed by a count of 43-32.

During that 12-2 run, Windham focused on feeding the ball to Kolaczek in the paint. Getting the ball to Kolaczek “was 100 percent part of the gameplan,” Apthorpe said. “We wanted to try to get him more touches inside.”

The Bombers continued playing with energy and chipping away at the lead in the fourth quarter, but never got closer than six points. A pivotal moment in the game occurred midway through the fourth period with Windham trailing, 45-38. A Chalker player lost the ball out-of-bounds after being tightly defended by a Windham player. One referee ruled that Windham would get possession, but a second referee overruled and instead called a foul on the Bombers defender.

Chalker senior Lucas Porterfield then scored on a layup and a short time later, Pack tallied an and-1 basket to put Chalker ahead, 50-38.

The Bombers countered with a 9-3 run that consisted of a layup from Ramsey, as well as a 3-pointer, a lay-in and two free throws by Collins. That made the score 53-47 with about 1 minute left. The Wildcats broke through Windham’s press and extended their lead on a layup by Porterfield off a dime from Noble. Chalker also made a couple of free throws as Windham fouled to try to preserve time.

“Louden Collins had a really big night for us,” Apthorpe said. “It was nice to be able to see us somewhat adjust once they started to send two guys at Matt, we were able to find some other openings.”

Collins scored 18 points, while Kolaczek had 13.

Apthorpe was happy with his team’s energy and effort in a second half where they outscored the Wildcats 31-21.

“If we play that way for four quarters, I think the game is a very different game,” he said. “I think the outcome could definitely be more favorable. It’s not a guarantee but we certainly would have given ourselves a better chance if we’d have come out (in the first half) like we did in the second half.”

Apthorpe said his players need to focus on fully understanding what it takes to win games.

“If we want to give ourselves a chance to win, we need to have that sense of urgency at the tip, and unfortunately, we seem to struggle with that understanding that (the) urgency to win a game starts at 4:30 and then the preparation, both physically and mentally, that is what gets you prepared to win a game,” he said.

For Chalker (3-4), Porterfield scored 14, while Kelson had 13, and Pack and Noble each recorded 12.