CCC Region B boys basketball

BRISTOL EASTERN 56, FARMINGTON 54
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium 

Farmington (0-1)                   11 12 21 10 – 54
Bristol Eastern (1-0)             12 9 9 26 – 56 

FARMINGTON (54): Jordan Anthony 3 0 8, Christian Harris 2 0 4, Nick Duncan 6 2 15, Jacob Smith 8 0 18, Nico Augustino 2 0 4, Ricky Podgorski 1 0 3, Chad Rizzo 1 0 2. Totals: 23 2 54.
BRISTOL EASTERN (56): Elijah Parent 7 0 18, Josh Kolano 4 0 12, Dylan Woodsome 1 0 2, Trevor Nohilly 1 0 2, Axel Fernandez 2 0 5, Trini Otero 7 0 15, Jack Stavens 0 0 0, Tyler Donohue 1 0 2. Totals: 23 0 56.
Three-point goals: Anthony (F) 2, Smith (F) 2, Duncan (F), Podgorski (F), Parent (BE) 4, Kolano (BE) 4, Otero (BE) Fernandez (BE). 

Records: Bristol Eastern 1-0; Farmington 0-1 

By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – When it came to close games last season for the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team, it seemed like the squad was foiled in every single outing.  

But 2021 is a new year for the Lancers and in its opener against Farmington on Thursday, February 11, the locals were not about to let history repeat.  

Trailing by 16 points early in the fourth quarter, Eastern made an epic comeback – salting the game away when Elijah Parent found Trini Otero for the game-winning three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to play – as the Lancers came away with a tremendous 56-54 victory from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in a CCC Region B showdown.  

Farmington (0-1) was rolling along in the fourth quarter as Nick Duncan (15 points) hit two free throws as the visitors led 48-32 with 6:01 to go. 

However, it was just about all Lancers the rest of the way.  

Eastern ended the event with a huge 24-6 run, highlighted by the final hoop of the game from Otero (15 points, eight rebounds) as his 3 found paydirt.  

“That’s a guy I can trust,” said Parent of Otero. “We’ve been playing together our whole lives. I know he’s going to knock that down when it comes down to the wire.”

Off a missed Farmington shot, a rebound by Eastern’s Josh Kolano (12 points, nine rebounds) with 16.9 seconds left saw the home team trail 54-53 as the game-ending play was about to unfold.  

With eight seconds remaining, Parent (18 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, six assists, three steals) drove into the lane as the Farmington defense collapsed upon him.  

But the guard quickly zipped the ball out and over to Otero who calmly drained the game-winning 3 in front of the Eastern bench with just seconds to play as the home team retook the lead.    

Eastern drilled 10 three-pointers in the game as Parent and Kolano each canned four to lead the charge – helping to erase all of that second half deficit in the end.

“I told the guys when they were down in the fourth quarter, down 14, it isn’t a question in what we’re doing. We’re just not making shots,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “I only took a timeout once when we got lethargic on three or four possessions. Every team is going to get frustrated when offensive isn’t creating energy and we were stuck on 28 points for a little bit.”

“But we got the ball inside, we got a garbage hoop but we gave up a 3 [to Farmington] and that’s when I thought I need to extend the pressure a little bit.”

It was an exciting contest as eight lead changes and four ties provided an entertaining back-and-forth contest that remained in doubt until the final horn sounded.  

“It felt so nice” said Parent about winning to start the season. “Like last season, we had a bunch of these games [that went] down to the wire within like three points [and lost]. This year, we’ve learned, we have experience now and the results [are different].”

Kolano hit two 3s and Parent added two jumpers over the first eight minutes of play to help Eastern seize a 12-11 push after one completed stanza.  

Farmington briefly took the lead early in the second frame as Jordan Anthony (eight points) connected a long-range 3 but Eastern responded with a 7-2 spurt.  

Kolano sank a step-back 3 while Otero slipped in two hoops as the Lancers’ edge reached 19-14, its biggest lead of the game by the home team, with 5:50 left before the half.  

But a 9-2 Farmington run – all fueled by hoops from Duncan and Jacob Smith (team-high 18 points) – saw the visiting aggression seize a 23-21 halftime push.  

Parent started off the third quarter by hitting his first 3 of the night to give Eastern a slim 24-23 advantage but that lead did not last.  

Farmington went on a period-ending 21-6 burst as Eastern took quality shots at the hoop but simply could not get the ball to fall in.  

“I thought that the ball movement could have been better,” said Ray. “And we’re still learning a new thing we want to do in terms of how we want to make ourselves a little more dangerous as a team.”

“Even though we were a little stale on offense, it wasn’t a lack for trying or wasn’t a lack of executing. It was more of shots just not going in.”

With one frame left, the Lancers were down by double-figures, 44-30.  

And when Duncan flipped in his two free throws with 6:01 remaining, Eastern went to work and started to chip away at the 16-point hole.  

Eastern newcomer Axel Fernandez added two straight hoops, including a big 3 with 4:07 left, as Farmington called a quick timeout – leading 48-37.  

“Axel is a great addition. He just doesn’t know where he’s going yet,” said Ray. “Once he learns, understands the game, and how to play it a little bit, he’s a great energy player for us. Those one or two minutes from some of the bench players in spurts helped.”

“For us, it was just a matter of us putting the pieces together and figuring out who does what best.”

The visitors continued to keep its collective foot on the gas, trading baskets with Eastern until an offensive rebound and put-back from Farmington’s Christian Harris, making it a 54-42 game with 2:02 remaining, was the final hoop Farmington scored that night.  

And it was comeback time for the Kingstreeters.  

Parent hit for 10 straight Eastern points as Farmington’s edge started to crumble.  

“The name of the game for us was offense,” said Ray. “We just couldn’t score and we were getting great shots at the hoop. But once you get a turnover and Elijah starts making some shots, Trini makes some shots, [the game turned].”

Trailing 54-47, a huge steal by Eastern’s Ty Donohue (five rebounds) induced a jump-ball which gave possession back to Eastern with 59.9 seconds to play.  

“We showed them two or three different types of presses which I thought helped us too,” said Ray. “As Farmington adjusted to one, we showed them something else and our kids made veteran adjustments.”

Another Parent three-point bomb ten seconds later trimmed the deficit to 54-50 and Farmington was on its heels.  

On the ensuing possession, Parent made his third steal of the game, and in full stride, stopped and popped in his final 3 of the game as the excitement in the gymnasium grew to a fevered pitch with Eastern trailing just 54-53 with 28.5 seconds remaining.  

Farmington tried for a quick a lay-up on its next drive but the miss was scooped in by Kolano and all of a sudden, Eastern had the ball with 16.9 seconds left and needed just one hoop to retake the lead. 

“Our pressure defense down the stretch bothered them,” said Ray. “It’s early in the year and you’re not prepared and you don’t have all your stuff in, those types of things show up. You can tell Farmington was a little out of sorts. They didn’t make decisions down the stretch and we were able to get some turnovers.”

Parent made his drive, Otero coolly splashed in his game-winning three-pointer but even as Farmington trailed 56-54, there were two seconds left to steal the game back.  

Off the Farmington inbound, Eastern quickly fouled Smith but the locals were nowhere near the 1-and-1 shooting penalty. 

Now, Farmington had just 0.5 seconds left on the clock to come up with something. 

And on the half court inbounds by Farmington, the ball was scooped up by Kolano – icing the game – as the Lancers came away with a huge 56-54 win to open the campaign.  

“I thought the energy was outstanding,” said Ray. “For having no crowd, it seemed like a ruckus gym. But at 1-0, they can’t take that away from us.”  

NOTES…The Lancers did not attempt a free throw in the showdown while Farmington, who dumped its Indians moniker this past year, took only two charity tosses…Eastern’s Trevor Nohilly made a huge spin move for a hoop midway through the third period for his second varsity basket. That hoop proved critical over the game’s final tally…Dylan Woodsome added four rebounds, Nasir Walker dished off four assists, and Jack Stavens added two rebounds for the winning Lancers.