Windsor opens NBL season this Friday vs. Santa Rosa
The Jaguars should be battle tested and ready for the North Bay League basketball opener this week following another good litmus test at the 13th annual Brett Callan Memorial Tournament at Casa Grande on Dec. 13-15.
Windsor faced stiff competition in the three-day tourney in winning one of three games, including a 73-59 victory over Analy. The win sandwiched a pair of hard-fought losses to Casa Grande (67-55) and Northgate (56-41).
“The speed and physicality was a good test for us,” Jag’s coach Jared Greninger said following the game against Northgate. “I believe that it helped prepare us for what we will see against Santa Rosa in the NBL opener.”
Windsor (7-5) will open the NBL Oak Division schedule this Friday, Dec. 21 in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Santa Rosa. The Jaguars will host the annual Windsor Holiday Shootout Tournament on Dec. 26-28.
Jags take one
Windsor opened the Callan Tournament against host Casa Grande in the marquee match-up of the night on Dec. 13, going toe-to-toe with the Gauchos to forge a 29-all tie at the half.
The Gauchos, led by senior forward Garrett Siebels, gained separation with a 22-12 third-quarter run and never gave up the lead en route to a 67-55 win.
Jordan Merical paced the Windsor attack with 17 points, while Christian Jernigan (12 points, 18 rebounds) and Jack Amormino (10 points, 9 boards) also played well for the Jags.
The Jaguars cranked up their potent offense in Friday’s game two against league rival Analy, coming in with a solid game plan that would work to near perfection.
“We made it a focus to limit the one on one play of their dynamic guards Vermeulen and Fain, and our ability to do so allowed us to control this game from start to finish,” Greninger noted following the second season meeting with the Tigers. “Analy brought a stronger effort against us this time around, but the consistent effort that our Jags displayed proved to once again be too much for the Tigers.”
Turning in outstanding efforts for the Jaguars were Merical (27 points), Jernigan (24 points, 13 rebounds), Billy Boyle (12 points) and Amormino (8 points, 7 boards).
Windsor faced arguably its toughest challenge of the season to date in Saturday’s getaway game against Northgate, as the Broncos took charge from the opening tip en route to an eventual 56-41 win.
“Northgate plays very physical on defense which made it difficult for us to find a rhythm on offense,” Greninger said. “They were able to limit our leading scorers in this game, and as a result we scored our lowest total up to this point.”
Leading scorers for the Jags included Amormino (10), Jaden Ruybalid (10) and Jernigan (2 points, 12 rebounds).
Jernigan was named to his third consecutive all-tournament team.
