Windsor hosts #9 Redwood in opening round on Feb. 21
The varsity basketball Jaguars got their first taste of postseason basketball on Feb. 15, falling to archrival Montgomery, 56-34 in the opening round of the four-team North Bay League Playoff Tournament in Santa Rosa.
The NBL playoff appearance was a mere prelude of more to come this week after the Jags landed the number eight seed in the 16-team North Coast Section Division 2 tournament. At press time, Windsor (20-7) was preparing to host the ninth seeded Redwood Giants in the NCS opener on Feb. 21 (7 p.m.), with the winner slated to face the survivor of #1 Bishop O’Dowd versus #16 Concord on Friday, Feb. 24 (site and time TBD).
The Giants (16-11) are no strangers to the Jaguars, with Windsor having beaten them in a 57-55 overtime barnburner in the Rose City Tournament in December.
As far as NCS seeding goes, the number eight spot came as no surprise to the Windsor brain trust, which predicted as much well before the seeding was announced.
“Our projected NCS seed is between 6-10,” Jags head coach Travis Taylor said last week. “My best guess is number 7.”
Jags fall to Vikings in NBL tourney
Windsor (20-6) represented the number three seed in the league tourney following a strong bid for a second consecutive NBL title, but ran into a red-hot second-ranked Vikings squad on Wednesday.
“We played poorly and Montgomery played well, so give them a lot of credit,” Taylor noted. “Our focus now is on the section playoffs and we are excited to bounce back and play well.”
The Jaguars entered the NBL tourney opener at Montgomery with each team owning a win over the other in two regular season meetings, but it was clear early on that rubber match would belong to the Vikings.
Windsor struggled from the opening tip, managing just four points in the first quarter as Montgomery raced to a 16-4 lead. The Vikings extended the advantage with another 15-8 second-quarter run for a commanding 31-17 cushion at the half. The Jags fought an uphill battle in the final 16 minutes of play as the Vikings cruised to a 56-34 win.
Top point-scorers for Windsor included Travis Carlozzi (10 points, 4 rebounds), Riley Smith (8 points, 5 rebounds), Justin Smith (7 points, 7 boards), Kobe Roman (5 points, 4 rebounds), Ethan Wright (3 points) and Jordan Merical (1 point).
On Saturday, Montgomery fell to NBL champion Cardinal Newman, 64-53 in the tourney title game.
