WINCHESTER When Winchester junior Kiante Enis took an inbound pass and sprinted to the basket for a layup, going the length of the court in less than five seconds, he wasn’t just scoring a basket to end the first quarter.
He was playing with the mentality that new Golden Falcons coach Matt Fine emphasizes, one that carried his team to a 54-42 victory over the Delta Eagles.
It’s a faster, more explosive style of play than former Winchester coach Rick Owens used, and Enis is fully embracing it.
“We’re playing a completely different pace and everybody is buying into the system,” Enis said. “We’re trying to push the ball up court, getting out on the fast break, using the ability our best athletes have.”
He led Winchester (2-0) with 24 points and pulled down four rebounds, often slashing to the basket and moving the ball up court as fast as possible. Teammate Michael Georgi scored 15 points. Alan Brutchen had a team-high eight rebounds for the Golden Falcons.
Enis said he loves to play at a fast pace, and this offensive system allows Winchester to move the ball faster than ever before.
But looking at last year’s statistics, Fine said Winchester turned the ball over too much. He said his philosophy is to play fast and make the easy play, but not play out of control, resulting in turnovers.
Just two games into the season, it seems that the up-tempo style of play is working, as Winchester often outran Delta (0-2) to the basket.
“We want to make good decisions during the fast break and not make moves that result in turnovers,” Fine said. “I’d rather back it out than have something bad happen.”
For Delta, falling behind 19-4 when the first quarter ended showcased the opposite of what new coach Ryan VanSkyock preaches. He said he wants his team to be based on hard-nosed defense, but everything fell apart when the Eagles couldn’t score.
“We’re going to be a defensive-minded team, but we’re awfully young,” VanSkyock said. “We just don’t have the firepower to fall behind like that and still win.”
He added that packing the paint with defenders and forcing outside shots will be what Delta tries to do as the season goes on, and it started working after the first quarter.
In the second and third quarters, Delta allowed a combined 16 points.
VanSkyock said as the season continues, he expects the defense to tighten up and hopefully the offense will start producing.
Tanner Lambert, Kameron Slaven, and Matt Norris led Delta with eight points each.