By Michael Letendre
January 18 wasn’t a popular date for the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team to compete on, but every once in awhile, the Lancers battled their crosstown rival that day.
And the squads from Bristol Central and Eastern took the court on January 18, 2008.
The showdown, played from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, went down as a classic in city series lore.
The contest pitted teacher versus student as Eastern’s Mike Giovinazzo took on Central’s Tim Barrette – one of Giovinazzo’s many former players that ended up coaching basketball scholastically.
In that hardwood bout, Central held a double-figure lead over Eastern in the fourth quarter but the Lancers were able to capitalize defensively and play catch up in the end.
A huge game-winning shot by Eastern’s Chris Colon at the buzzer sent the crowd into a frenzy as the Lancers came-from-behind to snare a huge 60-59 win.
It was an amazing spectacle as both squads were trending in different directions as the game between the programs approached.
Central entered the contest at 3-7 but was looking for one fleeting victory to change the course of the campaign.
The Rams had explosive guard DaQuan Brooks who could score against anyone and could break down opposing defenses with his slick inside-outside attack (Giovinazzo had, what seemed like, twenty defenses prepared for the sharpshooter, going over and over those at practices leading up to the game).
Central also turned to Dan Olivo, St. Paul transfer Tyler McIntyre, Demetric Maisonet, Dan Owsianko, and Devin Pecevich on the court.
On a strange side note, Jake Hasler somehow played for both Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central that year.
Central faced challenges, losing four straight games – dropping three by nine points or less – before scoring a 53-49 win over Maloney on January 15 as the program had some momentum going into the Eastern challenge.
The Lancers, on the flip side, were finally putting everything together – hanging in at 5-5 and looked to be tournament bound.
Fueled by Cody Bayne, who eventually became the program’s second all-time leading scorer (1,058 points), Eastern was experiencing a turnaround with Brett Anderson, Tylon Holmes, Jordon Dias, Tommy Tarantino, Timmy Georgen, Xavier Wade, and Colon leading the charge.
That Lancers’ crew helped turn around an 0-4 start to the year and once things clicked defensively and the offensive started to flow, the team hit the pay window early and often.
The Lancers entered the Central showdown winning four out of their last five games which included a season best 48-point victory against Fermi and a 44-point demolition of Conard.
But that night against Central, all the records were thrown out the window – per usual – between the squads.
And trailing late, the Lancers went to work, down 59-58.
With six seconds left to play and Eastern in possession of the ball, Anderson received the inbound pass and zipped it up to Dias.
Dias made a quick dribble and chucked the ball over to Colon on the baseline.
Colon then coolly sank a 16-foot baseline jumper at the buzzer as the Eastern fans erupted – leading to the one-point victory for the Lancers.
It was the first win in the rivalry at the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium for Eastern since 2001.
The Lancers used an 11-0 run over the final 4:29 of the game to hold off the Rams as a free throw from Olivo made it a 59-49 contest.
But Central never scored again, missing all of its remaining field goal attempts and went 0-for-3 from the charity stripe down the stretch.
Bayne quickly connected on a conventional three-point play and then kicked in two free throws with 2:10 left to make it a 59-54 contest.
Central followed with a missed a hoop and when Bayne flipped in a driving lay-up, Eastern trailed by just three points, 59-56, with 1:38 remaining in regulation.
The Rams still couldn’t score a basket but off an Eastern miss, Tarantino nabbed the offensive rebound, was fouled and hit two free throws.
And with 50 seconds remaining, the deficit was cut to 59-58 as Central’s double-figure edge was chopped to one.
Olivo and McIntrye missed one-and-one opportunities late and with eight seconds to go, the game-winning play was drawn up for Colon as he canned the go-ahead basket that sealed the deal at 60-59.
Brooks was sensational again, scoring all of his game-high 26 points over the first 27:11 of the contest.
Olivo added eight points while McIntyre and Owsianko scored seven points apiece.
Bayne dropped in 23 points and 11 rebounds – connecting on seven of Eastern’s final 11 points over the final four minutes of play.
Colon nabbed a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, Anderson zipped in 14 points and four rebounds along with four 3-pointers and Georgen slipped in four points and six assists while playing excellent defense on Brooks.
Tarantino added four points and three rebounds in just six minutes of action.
Eastern led 21-15 after eight minutes of play but a 15-6 second period run by the Rams gave the home squad a 30-27 lead at the half.
An Anderson 3 with one second left to play in the third trimmed the deficit to 48-45 but 10 straight fourth quarter points by Brooks boosted Central’s cushion to 58-47 – the squad’s biggest lead of the evening – with 4:49 to go in the fourth.
From that point on in the showdown, Central hit only one free throw as a game-ending 13-1 jaunt by Eastern propelled the winners to the 60-59 victory.
Central got revenge on February 20, sinking Eastern over a 58-51 final from the Thomas M .Monahan Gymnasium, though Colon dropped 26 points on the Rams.
The team on the hill was on fire – winning its seventh straight game with its victories over the Lancers – to scratch and claw to 10-10 overall record.
And on March 3, Central was the 26th ranked team in the Class L tournament bracket, engaged in a war at No. 7 Branford.
The locals nearly toppled the squad but, in the end, the Rams fell 57-56 as the season came to a swift conclusion.
The Lancers ended the year with a more than respectable 14-9 ledger with Eastern grabbing its best record since the 2002-03 season (11-11).
The program qualified for the CCC Tournament as the eighth seed, falling to No. 1 Windsor 64-55 in a contest played from Bristol Central high school (thank you Home Show).
Eastern earned a 14th ranking in the Class L tournament fray and saw some early postseason success.
The Lancers were able to top No. 19 Farmington and high-scoring Spencer Noon by a 58-46 final on March 3 before dropping a 66-46 decision in second round play at No. 3 New Canaan on March 5.
New Canaan used a 1-3-1 defensive zone that employed a 6-foot-8 center on top, giving Eastern a great re-look at a classic tactic that they started to use with players like Tyrell Holmes over future seasons.
