Windsor wins first boys basketball title in 101 years by beating Green Mountain for Class 5A crown

After 101 years, the Windsor Wizards are state champions again.

Windsor boys basketball, which last won a CHSAA title in 1924 with a team that went on to win a national championship, beat Green Mountain 60-49 on Saturday to capture the Class 5A crown at Denver Coliseum.

Star point guard Madden Smiley paced the Wizards with 25 points, while shooting guard John Backhaus added 18 points as Windsor topped a gritty Green Mountain team that was making its first title game appearance since 1994. Windsor’s win also atoned for four straight championship defeats, including last year to Mesa Ridge, whom the Wizards beat in Friday’s Final Four.

Green Mountain came out hot, opening up a 10-3 lead on the Wizards spurred by Green Mountain’s dynamic tandem of Sam Mielenz and Simon Lunsford. But then the Wizards responded with a 13-1 run to re-take control and a 16-11 lead.

The Rams then closed the quarter on a 5-0 run for a 17-16 Green Mountain lead after one quarter.

But in the second, with Lunsford on the bench due to foul trouble, the Wizards surged again to take a 32-26 lead into halftime. Windsor had settled in, with both Backhaus and Smiley finding their groove while the Rams sputtered at the end of the quarter.

In the third, Windsor kept a comfortable cushion for much of the frame. Their lead was as much as 12 points midway through the quarter, but the Rams wouldn’t go away.

While Windsor was content to run clock in extended offensive possessions against Green Mountain’s 2-3 zone, suddenly the Wizards offense went stale, and the Runnin’ Rams kept pushing the ball in transition and finding the bucket to cut into the deficit. Meanwhile, Windsor coach Jon Rakiecki kept subbing Smiley out for defense amid the point guard’s foul trouble.

Windsor led 42-38 going into the fourth. The Wizards’ stall-ball continued, prompting boos from the Rams fans, but the Wizards were getting just enough scores to stay in front by a couple buckets.

With 4:07 to play and Windsor up 47-42, the Rams finally started pressuring in an attempt to speed up the flow of the game and get more possessions. But Windsor responded with threaded passing and impressive dribbling that led to several easy finishes around the rim to extend the lead to 53-44 with two minutes left.

The Rams, led by 20 points from Mielenz, couldn’t climb out of that hole.

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