COURTLAND—Windsor came out firing and took an early lead Wednesday night, but as Southampton settled into its full court press and quality shots were tougher to come by for the Dukes, the Indians marched to a 12-point victory.

“We played a good first half, and then we let the game get away from us,” said Windsor Head Coach Brandon Bossick. “We need to make better decisions when it comes to pressure, but it was a rough game. We got roughed up, but that’s OK. It’s conference play, and we will be ready.

“They won the game. I don’t want to take that from them,” he continued.

“They executed down the stretch. I thought we played very well tonight, but we just could not finish it. I’m proud of our boys, though.”

Indians Head Coach Sharone Bailey said the game turned when Brandon Knight ignited the offense with 4 steals and 7 points in the second quarter. Going into the second quarter, the score was 12-6 Windsor, but by halftime, the Indians were up by 2, coming off of a 21 point second quarter effort.

“Brandon Knight in the second quarter was huge for us,” he said. “But it was an all around good performance. We have a good team here, we just have to focus.”

Another factor, Bailey said, was getting the guys into the press, which was a factor in the second half, where the Indians outscored the Dukes 31-21.

“During the first half, we had 3-4 guys doing their assignment, and the others were just thinking about doing their assignment,” Bailey said. “During the second half, if all five guys do their assignment, that press works. We got Windsor taking some shots that they did not want to shoot, and that is what we wanted to do.

“That allowed us to get out and run on the break. That helped us pull ahead.”

Darius Bell led Southampton in scoring, with 13 points. He also had 13 rebounds.

“Coming up from JV, he is really playing hard,” said Bailey. “It was an all around solid performance.”

There were things that Bailey said Southampton has to do better.

“I think we did a horrible job on the glass. We gave up too many offensive rebounds,” he said. “And we also have to do a better job hitting free throws. We missed 22 free throws tonight. We have to do a better job in practice.”

Bailey said that Windsor, which is a division lower than Southampton, played a good game.

“I was very impressed with Windsor tonight,” he said. “They came to play, and they are going to be a solid ball club.”

Windsor faces Franklin on Friday in Franklin, while Southampton faces Park View at home.

“We just want to play solid defense,” Bailey said of Friday’s match. “We have to close out and rebound.”

Bossick said he was getting his team ready for Franklin.

“We are going to go home, and we are going to rest up and get ready for Franklin on Friday,” he said. “I saw a lot of players step up tonight, and we are going to learn a lot from this.”

The Dukes are 2-2 and the Indians are 3-1.