UNCASVILLE — For the first time since 1967, a Tech school captured a state title for the first time at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Windham Tech Tigers boys basketball team held off the undefeated Woodland Regional Hawks 73-62 in the Division IV Championship on Saturday afternoon to claim the first state title in program history.
Windham Tech used its well-balanced attack to hand Woodland its first loss, leading to the team being crowned as champions.
Offensively, Windham Tech had four players in double figures. Senior Colby Dunnack carried the way with a monster game, pouring in 20 points, 19 rebounds, and six blocks. His team, which has been by his side throughout the journey, Brady Marsh scored 17 points with eight points.
A player who was injured last year shined on the biggest stage to help deliver a championship to Windham Tech. Senior Gabe Crespo buried two threes on its way to scoring 14 points.
Senior Conner Bushey chipped in with 10, and Jameson Sadloski added nine points.
Windham Tech head coach Luke Gildea had trouble finding the words to describe what was going through his mind following guiding the school to its first championship in school history. He added that it was a huge sigh of relief when Woodland took its starters out, allowing him to share a special moment with his players.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Gildea said. “I can’t even explain it. When I took Colby out, I started to tear up, and that’s when I realized we did it.”
Windham Tech never relinquished following Bushey nailing a three with 7:10 left in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 22-21.
After that three, Woodland never tasted the lead again.
The charge for Windham Tech continued as they went up 31-21 midway through the second quarter. Trailing 31-21 with 3:51 left, Woodland closed the half on an 11-6 run to trim Windham Tech’s lead heading into halftime.
Despite Windham Tech giving up 15 fast-break points and losing the turnover battle 9 to 4, they were up due to three-point shooting. Furthermore, Woodland had nine points to turnovers, and Windham Tech was blanked.
Windham Tech capitalized on their open looks, which led them to conclude the half 5-12, and Woodland was blanked from distance, going 0-5.
Leading 46-39 with 5:36 left in the third quarter, Windham Tech went on a 12-7 run to extend its lead to 13, its largest lead of the game.
Woodland answered in the final minute with a 5-0 to make it 58-50 entering the intense Division IV Championship.
While Windhan went up eight with 5:01 left in the final quarter, Woodland wouldn’t go away.
Despite Woodland putting game pressure on Windham Tech by cutting the lead to five, Windham Tech didn’t get rattled.
Instead, Windham Tech went on a 6-1 run to pull away from Wooldand to go up 69-58 with 2:31 left.
Woodland elected to throw in the towel with 1:03 left as they emptied the bench.
Once the final buzzer sounded, Windham Texh players stormed the court, celebrating with excitement.
Ultimately, Woodland living and dying by three is why they suffered their first loss. From distance, they were ice cold since they went 2-15 overall.
Hear from the players
After Windham Tech captured the first stage title in school history, The Chronicle talked with the three seniors (Crespo, Dunnack, and Marsh) who scored 51 of the team’s 73 points to outlast Woodland.
Gabe Crespo
Last year, Crespo was sidelined due to injury. However, he came back stronger than ever. Crespo’s shining in the biggest game of his life allowed Windham Tech to take down Woodland.
Following Windham’s championship, Crespo shared his thoughts on all the adversity he went through.
“It means the world to me,” Crespo said. “I want to thank God because we would never be here without him.”
He then added how happy who was to make his mom proud, citing she has gone through a lot recently
“This is a special moment because my mom got diagnosed with a blood clot in her brain,” Crespo said. She was out for a couple of games, so I’m really happy about that.
When asked if he wanted to share a message for his mom, Shirley, Crespo gave her a sweet message.
“I love you so much,” Crespo said. “You’re always there for me. You came to every single, and I’m so proud to have you as a mom.”
When Crespo got injured, he had doubts about ever becoming the best version of himself again. However, he came back better than ever. To athletes going through injuries who believe they won’t return as the same player, Crespo’s advice is to keep believing.
“Never get said,” Crespo said. Just come back better than ever and just put your heart out.”
Similar to Crespo, Dunnack didn’t have an easy path either. After his sophomore captain concluded, he broke his leg.
When the buzzer sounded, there was a ton going through his mind. He credits the support for carrying him to checking off his main goal on the bucket list.
Colby Dunnack
“I can’t think my coaches, my brothers, my family, they’ve all pushed me to be great, and when I show out on the court, they give it right back, so it’s a blessing to be able to do it,” Dunnack said.
He added he was at a loss for words.
It was a mix of emotions of begging and happiness, and said that because I broke my leg my sophomore year,” Dunnack said. “Today, this is a great accomplishment, and I can’t even express the feeling I have.”
Defensively, Dunnack was lights-out when Woodland entered the paint. He was swatting away shots and altering shots at the rim, which contributed to Wooldand shooting 33.3 percent.
At the rim, Dunnack was called to step up and be the protector. With Dunnack causing havoc, Wooldan went 2-for-16 in the fourth quarter.
When asked how he was able to contain Woodland at the rim, Dunnack offered insight into Woodland.
“They like to do a lot of backdoor screens and backdoor layups, so I was trying to anticipate them and did my thing,” Dunnack said.
Brady Marsh
For the second time this year, Marsh shattered another record at Windham Tech. Needing to score 13 points to surpass Marissa Shriver, Marsh scored 17 points to stand alone.
With Windham Tech accomplishing the impossible of winning as a Tech school, Marsh said it proved everyone wrong. While on the outside they might have been slept on, he said the team always believes this could happen.
“As a smaller school, we knew we could do it,” Marsh said. “We had no doubt in our minds. “If we came into this game with all the energy we did in the last couple of games this tournament, we knew that this was going to go our way.”
Indeed, Windham Tech did. The Tigers clamped down on Wooldand and prevented them from stringing together multiple baskets in a row. In total, Woodland led for 6:46 for the entire game.
Defensively, Marsh explained why the adjustment to the 2-3 zone worked so well and was bothering Wooldand.
“Once we go to a 2-3, Jameson and I will go,” Marsh said. “Jameson slides over, and I come up and then slide down immediately. One of their bigs was going baseline, and we knew we had to stop that.”
A player that Marsh is happy to get recognition from everyone is Crespo. Against Woodland, Crespo went 6-9 from the floor and 2-3 from three
He’s thrilled people will know his name now. He had high praise following stamping his name in the record books again.
“I don’t even know if anyone knows who Gabe Crespo is, but they’re going to now,” Marsh said. “I grew up with him all through middle school, and he used to beat me all the time in rec basketball.”
On the court, Marsh detailed how Crespo elevated the team after being sidelined with an injury. Specifically, it’s his elite speed that is why he’s given the assignment of guarding one of the team’s best players.
Furthermore, the other player Marsh is thrilled to share this moment with is Dunnack; the two have played their entire careers together.
With Dunnack impacting the game in multiple ways, Marsh credits him for the team reaching new heights.
“He’s averaging 18 points and 14 rebounds,” Marsh said. “That’s unrealistic for a normal player. Without Colby, we don’t win a game like this.
Chasing the championship has been on this team’s mind for a while. Four years ago, Windham defeated SMSA to claim its first championship in 81 years.
According to Marsh, that fueled Windham Tech. Now, he is also a champion.
“Windham did it a couple of years ago, and that made me a little jealous,” Marsh said. “I said to another lady a couple of days ago that it made me jealous seeing them win because I wanted to get my own. We did this for the city of Willimantic.”
