By Michael Letendre
On January 26, 1999, the Bristol Eastern boys basketball squad battled Newington in a CCC South confrontation from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium.
And in that contest played twenty-two years ago today, a future Green Beret from Eastern drained a game-winning buzzer beater to stave off the Indians.
With the game tied at 46, Eastern senior John Phelan dribbled around traffic and unleashed a half-court bomb as time expired.
And his shot fell cleanly through the hoop as Eastern came away with a thrilling 49-46 victory for the program’s fifth win of the campaign (5-6 overall).
Phelan, a Special Forces veteran who has battled ISIS in Afghanistan, had a different kind of engagement on his hands that January night as the Lancers had to fend off a scrappy Newington comeback with the team’s trading back-to-back 3s to close out the game.
Brett Fortier (there’s that last name again) led Eastern with 14 points – canning four three-pointers along the way – and six rebounds while center Jason Clark added 13 points, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots.
Reinaldo Soto, Eastern’s all-time leading rusher in football, posted six points, six rebounds and three assists while Phelan notched 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
In the end, Phelan scored half of his points over the final 14.4 seconds of the game.
Mike Archacki added six points and canned two huge free throws down the stretch to give Eastern a late three-point edge.
Newington Center Mike Zarotney led all players with 15 points while teammate Juan Ramirez hit for 10.
Joey Serfass, Newington’s top scoring threat, was held to just five points but his late three-pointer tied things up at 46-46 with just under five seconds remaining.
The Indians, falling to 2-9 overall (0-5 CCC South), played one heck of game that forced Phelan into his late-game heroics.
But before getting to that busy fourth and final period of play, it was all Eastern early.
After the Lancers started the contest by scoring the first 14 points, the Indians staged a furious comeback, eventually knotting the score late in the fourth quarter.
Fortier hit two three-pointers in the first quarter while Clark added six points and with just over a minute to go in the frame, Eastern led 14-0 before the Indians finally got on-track.
The Lancers surged in front 16-4 after one completed frame but after failing to score a point, Newington went on an 18-7 run and with 1:29 left before the half, Eastern’s edge was chopped to 21-18.
But the Lancers held a five-point spread at the break (23-18).
Newington outscored Eastern again in the third tilt (14-9), but Soto added four points and Fortier hit his third 3 of the game as the Lancers and Indians were all tied up at 32-32 with one quarter remaining.
The squads were tied at 39-39 with 4:30 left and late turnovers didn’t allow Eastern to space out any kind of significant lead.
And then with less than a minute remaining, Newington’s Carmine Rinaldi (nine points) drained a quick hoop but Archacki – who was fouled and stepped to the free throw line as a 38-percent free throw shooter – calmly sank two charity shots with 30 seconds left to give Eastern a 44-41 lead.
Zarotney quickly hit a hoop over Clark and when Newington was forced to foul Phelan, his two free throws extended Eastern’s edge to 46-43 with 14.4 seconds left.
Out of a time out, Serfass canned a huge 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation that tied the contest up at 46-46.
But Eastern got the ball back and Phelan was determined to end the evening without overtime necessary.
Phelan weaved his way to half-court, threw up his game-winning hoop – heaving his shot, ironically, over Serfass – and the 3-pointer swished through as Lancers celebrated their huge 49-46 CCC South victory over the Indians.
Central loses in Overtime
That same evening, Bristol Central was home against Platt in a huge CCC South tilt and needed overtime to settle their differences.
In the lone extra period, the Panthers’ Jamel Riddle – another outstanding football player – canned a hoop at the buzzer as Platt came away from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium a 63-61 winner.
Riddle and Central’s Billy Givens each scored 19 points to lead their respective squads offensively.
Also for the Rams, Eric Jenkins posted 13 points, Gary Paradis slipped in 12 while Nick Sidney netted 11 as Central had four players in double-figures.
Platt moved to 9-2 over the winning effort while Central fell to 7-4.
