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WIndham wins one on road

PLAISTOW — All year long, the young Windham boys basketball team has taken baby steps forward.

But Friday night at Timberlane, the Jaguars took a much larger, call it a teenage step, in the right direction with a 61-42 victory. It was their third victory in the last seven games for Windham and the first not on their home court.

"This was a big one for us, winning on the road," said first-year coach E.J. Perry, who starts a freshman, a sophomore and three freshmen. "We really wanted to win that first one away from home."

Junior forward Luke Schramm couldn't have agreed more.

"We're excited — this is definitely a good win for us," said Schramm. "We feel we're getting better."

Probably no one has improved as much as Schramm, who scored a game-high and season-high (for anyone on the team) 25 points.

With a number of putbacks, combined with short jumpers and driving layups, Schramm overcame a slow start by pouring in 24 of his points in the final three quarters.

"If you had seen Luke in the summer, I'm so proud of how far he has come," said Perry. :He's worked on his back step, his post moves, how he moves without the ball —- everything. And his confidence has risen." 

But Schramm and the entire Jagauar team were not playing with confidence at the start, turning the ball over, missing open shots and falling behind 8-7 in a sloppy first quarter.

But the momentum changed drastically in the second quarter as the Jaguars picked it up on defense, forcing nine Timberlane turnovers, and starting to hit the very shots they were missing in the first quarter.

After going 2 for 14 from the floor in the first frame, Windham was 8 of 12 in the second quarter, outscoring Timberlane 20-7 to take a commanding 27-15 lead. Schramm was 5 for 5 and had 11 points in the quarter.

Plagued by turnovers, the Owls were unable to stage a comeback in the second half. Freshman Cole Peterson helped the cause with a pair of 3-pointers and all of his eight points in the third quarter and much improved sophomore Cole Flenniken had nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.

Schramm and Flenniken, meanwhile, both had 10 rebounds to limit Timberlane to one shot.

"We're getting better," said Perry. "I told them (players) that you're going to see us winning a state title in two or three years and you're building the foundation."

On a positive note for Timberlane (2-17), sophomore Robert Olson was aggressive taking the ball to the basket and finished with a team-high 13 points. But there were few other highlights for the Owls.