It was a good opening week of preseason hoops for the Windsor High School Jaguars, notching two wins in four outings.
Windsor tipped off in the official season opener on Nov. 28 against visiting Elsie Allen, jumping all over the Lobos in a 77-49 rout. Senior forward Justin Smith paced the attack with 22 points, while twin brother Riley Smith poured in 14. Other top scorers for the Jags included Jordan Merical (19 points, 5 threes), Kyle Bozzetto (7), Travis Carlozzi (6), Jaden Ruybalid (3), Jack Amormino (2) and Massimo Dicochea (2).
The Jaguars ventured north to the McKinleyville Tournament on Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, opening with a 61-30 rout over Arcata. Windsor’s free-throw shooting proved too much for the Tigers to overcome, as the Jaguars converted 23 of 31 shots from the charity stripe. Leading the scoring attack were Justin Smith (20), Riley Smith (16) and Carlozzi (10).
Windsor squared off with Heritage in game two on Friday, spotting the Patriots a big first-quarter lead in an eventual 58-50 loss.
“Down 21-8 after one quarter, we battled back and hung in there,” WHS coach Travis Taylor reported. “Heritage is a really talented and well coached team. We dug ourselves too big of a hole early in the game and could not overcome it.”
Scoring leaders included Riley Smith (18 points, 12 rebounds), Merical (13 points, all in first half), Justin Smith (11 points, 11 boards) and Carlozzi 8 points, 4 rebounds).
The Jaguars faced host McKinleyville in Saturday’s getaway game, falling to the Panthers in a tight battle. Windsor overcame a slow start to surge ahead 48-40 in the third quarter, but the Panthers got hot late in the contest to post a 66-60 win.
“McKinleyville shot lights out and we got caught up in a run and gun game type of game,” Taylor noted. “It became an open court, 3-point shootout and that is not our strength.”
Riley Smith led the way with 33 points and five rebounds, while other top scorers were Justin Smith (13 points, 10 rebounds), Merical (10 points) and Carlozzi (4 points, 6 rebounds).
At press time the Jags were preparing to host Healdsburg on Dec. 5, followed by a Dec. 12 home clash with San Marin. The varsity tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
