By ANDREW FAISON/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
andrew.faison@yahoo.com

FRANKLIN—The Windsor defeated Franklin 45-42 Wednesday night behind center Tony Walton’s 19 points.

“It was a great win for Windsor High school,” Dukes Coach Chris Smith about the team’s first Tri-Rivers District victory. “Just a great game — been a long time coming.”

“Franklin is a solid team and played well, but tonight was just our night,” Smith continued. “The guys have been working hard, and we have been right on the edge of a district win all year; it was nice to finally break that and get our first district win not only this year, but in years.”

“Hats off to Windsor for fighting really, really hard,” said Broncos Coach Danny Dillon. “But bottom line, tonight was probably the worst we have ever played.”

The Windsor Dukes improve to 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the district, while the Broncos drop to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the district

Walton also went 100 percent from the free-throw line and made 13 rebounds.

“Tony’s presence underneath was great, but overall it was a great team effort,” Smith said. “Franklin is a good team. They had an off night tonight, and we were just able to have a good night, and we will see them again later on in the year.”

Windsor guard R.J. Edwards led with 6 assists and added 5 rebounds.

Leading the way for the Broncos was senior Justin Grant with 14 points.

Franklin’s Andre Foreman tied up the game for the first time on the evening at the end of the third quarter with a 2-point shot.

Windsor regained the lead in the beginning of the fourth quarter when Walton was fouled after scoring a 2-point basket and made the and-one attempt.

Franklin’s Delvonte Boone tied the game with 1:52 left on the clock with a free-throw shot. On Boone’s missed second shot, Grant was fouled why getting the rebound and added 1 more point, making the score 42-41 in favor of Franklin.

With 37.6 seconds left, Walton went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, making the score 43-42 in favor of the Dukes.

“I think this is the year we make some noise in the district, but we still have a long ways to go,” Smith said. “But this win will go a long way towards helping us to our goal this year. ”

“When you go cold, and things don’t fall like normal, then you start second guessing yourself,” Dillon said. “I think that is what our boys were doing. With nine new players, we showed our inexperience tonight.”