By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Senior night for the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team nearly turned into a winning effort on Thursday night but in the end, the Lancers came up one hoop short as New Britain hung on to seize a 50-47 Central Connecticut Conference Region B victory from the Thomas M .Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
It was an extremely physical affair that saw Eastern (2-6) erase a double-figure deficit to two points midway through the final period before the Hurricanes (5-5) hit late hoops and free throws to stave off a gritty effort by the home team.
“We gave them some different looks,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “I thought some different guys got some shot opportunities and we had to create shot opportunities for each other. I thought in the offense early, we were doing a good job, we just weren’t making [shots]. But [New Britain] jacked up the pressure in the second half and took us out a little bit so we had to create. They started pressing a little bit, they started jacking up the half-court pressure, pressing our guards.”
“They were allowed to play physical and once that happened, we were under a little bit of duress.”
Things broke down with 2:03 left in the game as New Britain was leading by four at 43-39.
Eastern’s Elijah Parent (12 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals) and New Britain’s Jayden Andujar got tangled up.
A double foul was called as Andujar wrapped up Parent and left the Eastern guard looking to get untangled by any means necessary.
The two players needed to be physically pulled apart by coaches and players alike but order was eventually restored.
Neither player returned to the contest after the dust-up.
Lost in the effort was Parent’s first three-pointer of the game, swished in with 5:26 left to play in the opening quarter, making the senior the all-time leader in 3s made at Eastern.
He now has 121 three-pointers overall for his career.
After the fracas, Eastern chopped the deficit to three on two different occasions but never got over the hump before time expired.
Despite a subpar shooting night by the Kingstreeters, the Lancers had several good performances up and down the line-up.
Josh Kolano zipped up eight points and seven rebounds, Trini Otero notched seven points and six boards off the pine, Jack Stevens added five points to the effort, Axel Fernandez blocked two shots and Dylan Woodsome had two points and three rebounds.
Nasir Walker-Jenkins was big off the bench with six points, three assists and two steals, Tyler Donohue played 19 minutes of hustle and guile, nabbing four points and six rebounds – five coming off the offensive glass – while Trevor Nohilly showed his usual hustle as he made a critical three and added a steal.
“Nasir Walker-Jenkins was a bright spot,” said Ray. “He had a couple hoops in transition. Ty Donohue [showed] tremendous energy. Trevor Nohilly hit a big 3. A lot of guys did some good things out there.”
Eastern’s defense held New Britain to 32.7-percent shooting from the field and forced the squad into 13 turnovers while only committing seven.
The Lancers drained nine threes but saw the Hurricanes out-shoot the home team from the free throw line (22-2 in attempts) while scooping in 22 offensive rebounds for second shot opportunities.
It was back-and-forth early in the first period and when Parent and Stavens dropped in back-to-back 3s, Eastern led 8-6 with 4:55 left in the frame.
“We knocked down some threes,” said Ray. “We set up our pressure.”
New Britain then went on a 9-0 run before a bank-shot by Woodsome chopped the deficit to 15-10 through one period of play.
The visitors were in front by seven midway through the second stanza before two charity tosses from Otero and a three by Parent narrowed the score to 21-19 with 2:46 remaining before the half.
The Hurricanes then notched eight straight points before a baseline three-pointer from Kolano ended the first half scoring as Eastern was hanging around, down just 28-22.
New Britain eventually stretched its lead out to 35-24 early in the third quarter and off a three-point play by Demir Kandic with 4:11 showing on the clock, it was a nine-point affair (40-31).
From there, the Hurricanes scored just one point over a ten-minute stretch and even as Eastern chopped the deficit all the way down to two, the squad never could draw even.
“We’d get stops but we didn’t get baskets,” said Ray. “We weren’t getting transition hoops until that one little spurt. Those weren’t easy baskets. Everything that we get, we have to work for. So it became difficult. I was shuffling guys in and out and guys gave us a lot of different contributions.”
“Again, certain guys are better at pressure so we used that line-up. Certain guys are better in half-court offense, we used that line-up and we just kind of mixed and matched the best we could to get the right guys on the floor.”
To end the third, Parent hit two 3s and Walker-Jenkins flipped in two lay-ups off steals as New Britain’s edge was 40-34 with eight minutes remaining.
Nohilly started the final frame with a three-point bomb and Stavens zipped in a lay-up just past a charging Kandic that made it a 41-39 game with 4:21 left.
Two minutes later, Tyler Nolan (game-high 17 points) cashed in off a New Britain miss to make it 43-39.
The dust-up with 2:03 to go caused a near ten-minute delay but when play resumed, Nolan kicked in a jumper that made it a six-point game before a Kolano 3 chopped the deficit to 45-42 with 54.8 seconds remaining.
And with 33.5 left, Kandic gobbled up an offensive rebound, dropped in a hoop – plus a foul – and with New Britain ahead 49-42, that cushion would just be enough to put the visiting squad over the top.
Otero hit a late three and one final lay-up by Walker-Jenkins ended the scoring as Eastern fell by three, 50-47.
“Once again, you just hope there was a better result,” said Ray.
NOTE…Eastern honored its senior core before the game. The BE seniors honored were Jack Stavens, Tyler Donohue, Josh Kolano, Elijah Parent, Dylan Woodsome, Trini Otero, Axel Fernandez, and Trevor Nohilly.
CCC Region B boys basketball
NEW BRITAIN 50, BRISTOL EASTERN 47
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium
New Britain (5-5) 15 13 12 10 – 50
Bristol Eastern (2-6) 10 12 12 13 – 47
NEW BRITAIN (55): Justice Carter 1 0 3, Jayden Andujar 2 2 6, Xavier Goode 1 1 4, Juan Desiderio 0 5 5, Tyler Nolan 7 3 17, Demir Kandic 5 3 13, Dontay Bishop 1 0 2. Totals: 17 14 50.
BRISTOL EASTERN (47): Elijah Parent 4 0 12, Josh Kolano 3 0 8, Dylan Woodsome 1 0 2, Trevor Nohilly 1 0 3, Axel Fernandez 0 0 0, Trini Otero 2 2 7, Jack Stavens 2 0 5, Tyler Donohue 2 0 4, Nasir Walker-Jenkins 3 0 6. Totals: 18 2 47.
Three-point goals: Carter (NB), Goode (NB), Parent (NB) 4, Kolano (NB) 2, Nohilly (BE), Otero (BE), Stavens (BE).
Records: New Britain 5-5 overall; Bristol Eastern 2-6
