No. 1-ranked Wizards prevail
Windsor takes down Longmont for NCAC title
WINDSOR — It’s always a little more fun when the last game on a conference schedule determines a league’s regular-season champion.
That was the case in the NCAC finale on Tuesday night at Windsor High School. Nearing the end of the Season B campaign, the league’s championship was also determined by a powerhouse matchup between a pair of Class 4A state championship contenders in No. 1-ranked Windsor and No. 2 Longmont.
Snapping a streak of seven head-to-head losses against the Trojans that dated back to 2007, it was the top-billed Windsor Wizards that prevailed, claiming the conference title with a 47-38
victor y. It may not have been the outcome the Longmont boys had hoped for, but it could also have been a preview of a lateround state tournament game.
“It’s obviously a tough loss for the conference chip,” Longmont senior Eddie Kurjak said. “It stings a little bit and it’ll leave a bad taste in our mouth. But we just want to keep working on the things we can control and keep getting better ever y day, and hopefully tr y to make a run in the postseason.”
Kurjak, who is averaging 19 points per game, did his best to keep the Trojans (9-2, 6-2) in the hunt all night. He scored a gamehigh 24 points, including 12 during a second quar ter in which the Trojans looked as though they might pull away. But spurred by a relatively large and raucous crowd by Season B standards, the Wizards (10-1, 7-1) cut the visitors’ lead to just four points by halftime.
In the second half the Wizards outscored the Trojans, 13-4, in the third quarter to pull back into the lead. They held Longmont, a team that had won three straight games prior to Tuesday, to just six points in the four th quar ter to remain there until the end.
“It was a pretty good game and we just needed a couple of shots to go in here or there,” Kurjak said. “We talked after the game about how the worst two words in the English language are, ‘if’ and ‘only.’ So, we can’t hang our heads over it.”
Windsor seniors Jaden Kennis (18.3 ppg) and Ben Hageman (18.8 ppg) led the Wizards with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Kobe Green chipped in 10 points.
Longmont will wrap up the regular season with a pair of non-league games. The Trojans will play Frederick on Thursday and Thompson Valley on Friday.