Xavier Stuns No. 1 Windsor in Class LL Tourney

With one day to get ready for top-rated Windsor, Xavier coach Mike Kohs used six, seven, sometimes eight players in practice against his starting five. Kohs wanted to duplicate the baseline-to-baseline defensive pressure Windsor has used to bend 23 teams into submission this season.

Everyone got into the act, Kohs said. After all, it figured to be No. 17 seed Xavier’s final act in the Class LL boys basketball tournament.

“We had to focus on the first round first and Manchester [on Monday] wasn’t easy,” Kohs said. “We worked a lot on 5-on-6, 5-on-7, even five against eight to get ready for what we were going to see here.”

On a day when the Class LL tournament was cracked wide open, Xavier had the biggest hammer, shocking Windsor 69-58 Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006.

Jovan Santos scored 17 points and had 12 rebounds as Xavier’s starters each scored in double figures.

“The whole key was having guys in the right spots and guys cutting to the right spots when we were double-teamed,” Kohs said. “We did an outstanding job of that.”

For Windsor (23-2), the quest for a fourth state title stalled against Xavier’s signature picks, curls, layups and backdoor passes. Windsor, which had won 22 straight, rolled to the CCC tournament title last week, handing both Northwest Catholic and Maloney their first losses.

“This is how life goes,” Windsor coach Ken Smith said. “This is adversity and we just have to deal with it. Things happen. It just happened to be their night.”

Michael Boornazian, who had 27 points in a 72-63 first-round victory, and Michael Manion each scored 14 points for Xavier (17-8).

“I’ll tell you what, I give so much credit to all the kids on our team that don’t see a minute of varsity time,” Kohs said. “Those kids played their hearts out yesterday in practice to give us a chance for what we were going to see today.”

Xavier led 32-30 at halftime and outscored Windsor 23-5 in the third quarter.

No. 3 Hartford Public fell to 14th-seeded Glastonbury, 45-40. No. 6 Hillhouse lost. No. 2 St. Joseph and fourth seed Holy Cross squeezed out second-round victories.

Santos said he senses Xavier’s day at the Mohegan Sun.

“We want a shot at the trophy,” Santos said. “I can see why they were the No. 1 team all year. They’re fast and athletic but we just played our game. If we can play our game every time, we’re making a run. We want a shot at going to the Mohegan Sun [March 18-19].”

Patrick Lenehan, whose cool ball-handling repeatedly pierced Windsor’s trapping defense, had 12 points. Patrick D’Amato added 10 for Xavier, which will play Fairfield Prep Friday in the quarterfinals.

 “We had great floor spacing,” Kohs said. “The trap was coming. We wanted to move it, but we weren’t going to hold the ball. We wanted to attack when we had the advantage and we did that. In the first half I think we had one jumper; everything else was a layup.”

Andrew Hurd scored 21 points, including 5 of 11 three-point shots for Windsor. Greg Andrade had 12 points. Mike Fraylon (four points), Na-Sean Banks (four) and Jared Wilson-Frame were held to a combined 14.

“It’s the tournament and guys were tight,” Smith said. “We had a terrible third period and a great fourth. We always talk about playing good defense but we didn’t do it tonight. If we just play good defense we have a chance.”

Xavier opened the third quarter with a 15-1 run to open a 47-31 lead. Devonne Nolan’s basket temporarily ended a 4 minute, 45 second spell without a basket.

Xavier closed the quarter with a 9-2 burst for its largest lead, 55-35.

That’s when Kohs said he worried.

“Even when you’re up 20 in the fourth quarter, you know what’s coming,” Kohs said. “It’s not a comfortable lead. We’re up 10 with 30 seconds to go and that wasn’t comfortable because we know what they can do.”

Andrade buried a three-pointer to open the fourth. Hurd sank a three. Fraylon and Wilson-Frame also hit back-to-back three-point field goals as Windsor uncorked a 21-6 run – with six threes by five players – to close to 61-56 with 2:52 to go.

With 1,000-plus fans roaring in the packed bleachers, the old gym at Windsor High was rocking.

“We were trying to recover,” Smith said. “We got it to about five and then at that time we just stopped making shots. And then we started settling for the three instead of working it around. One of the things is this, though: this is a one-game season and [Xavier] just had the momentum at the right time.”

Windsor had it briefly in the first half, opening a 20-12 lead on Egerton Anderson’s three-pointer to open the second quarter. But there was no separation.

Xavier closed the quarter with an 8-2 run and never trailed again.

“We had an eight-point lead and we didn’t take care of the basketball,” Smith said. “We just made bad decisions.”