By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Platt boys basketball squad is a talented outfit with a couple of young, star players.
The Panthers have multiple, long range shooting weapons and even when an opponent neutralizes some of those options, there’s still plenty of offense to go around.
And the program from Meriden bombed away from deep against Bristol Eastern on Friday, hitting an incredible 15 three-pointers over an awesome shooting display as Platt topped the Lancers by an 84-50 final from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
Platt moved to 9-3 overall – winning five straight, all on the road – while Eastern dropped to 3-9.
The Lancers slowed the Panthers’ Makahi Anderson, who scored 28 points the first time around against the Bristol program, and was limited to only 12 in the rematch while Anthony Nimani hit for 20 – dropping in five three-pointers.
However, the rest of the squad compensated as those other players dropped in a combined 10 three-pointers.
Justin Black drained five 3s on his way to 17 points, Elijah Rodriquez scored 12 points while Juan Dancy canned three three-pointers, all coming in a 28-point second quarter, for 11 points overall.
“They shot the lights out,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “We tried to take out Nimani and [Anderson] and I thought we did a good job of taking away two things from them early and then all of a sudden, their secondary guys just started knocked down 3 after 3. You can’t guard everybody. You can’t guard them one-on-one with the personnel we have out there, so you try to scheme a little bit, try to throw some double-teams, try to take away certain things but you’re going to leave other things open.”
“Credit them. They were able to move the ball and find some other guys and those guys had good nights.”
Eastern’s Lukas Sward was tremendous and fought and clawed for team-highs of 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
He hit 6-of-11 shots from the field, nabbed three offensive rebounds, and hustled down the floor for the loudest block of the game.
“[He gave us] a lot of energy,” said Ray of Sward. “I’ve been asking him and [Brayden] Dauphinais to play with a lot of energy and a lot of passion out there and that’s what you need to do. Sometimes, when you’re young, you kind of just play. But everyone says if you’re playing young kids [now], it will benefit you down the road. It won’t benefit you unless they learn how to play with that type of passion, and I thought Lukas did a really good job. And so does Dauphinais.”
“But Lukas was exceptional tonight on how he was attacking the game.”
Jerry Tatum had his best game in an Eastern uniform, hitting 4-of-4 threes as his notched a season-high 12 points while Nasir Walker-Jenkins added eight points, four rebounds and three steals.
Nate Fries hustled off the bench for seven points, six rebounds, and four steals, Dauphinais nabbed three assists and two steals, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum had three rebounds, and Ben D’Amato hit a 3 along the way.
This event was a game early as Eastern forced Platt into 28-percent shooting from the field as things remained close.
Tatum dropped three 3s in the first frame and when his final trifecta of the quarter splashed in, Eastern trailed just 15-11 through eight minutes of action.
Fries cashed in a 3 with 7:16 remaining in the second period – trimming the deficit to 15-14 – but Platt’s three-point barrage was about to commence.
Platt canned three straight 3s, Anderson put back a miss, and as five additional three-pointers fell through the hoop – all part of a 23-8 burst – the Panthers led 38-22 with 1:53 left in the second period.
“Once again, if you look at our first quarters scores all year, I think we’re in a lot of games,” said Ray. “Over time, you just get worn down by bigger, stronger athletes that are quicker and that’s what happened.”
Late in the quarter, Dauphinais hit a shot and when Fries finished off the scoring with two free throws, the Panthers held a 43-26 edge at the half.
Sward tried to keep his mates in the game, scoring seven of Eastern’s 10 points in the third frame, chopping the deficit to 52-33 with 5:04 to play in the third tilt.
But Platt ended the third with a 13-3 run as the visiting aggression held a 65-36 push with one quarter to go.
“The other time we played them, we made some shots,” said Ray of the first Platt contest. “We were able to stop the runouts. Now, while you’re shooting and you’re one-and-done, they get the rebound and they’re going to advance the ball and they’re going to get runouts. That’s where it got sloppy for us. They were taking our [missed] offense and turning it into their offense. And that’s where you get a blowout.”
To end the game, Walker-Jenkins cashed in on four free throws, Fries added two of his own, while Sward and D’Amato hit late 3s as Eastern absorbed a tough 34-point decision to fall to 3-9 overall.
“[Platt coach Shawon Moncrief] kept his starters in for most of the game again, right to the end, and I’m throwing in guys out there that are giving me maximum effort,” said Ray. “That’s what’s happening. You’re going up against teams that are good and have really good players. [But] I love the effort. I can’t say that in every one of our games we got beat in. I thought early on, we’d get beat and hang our heads [but] I didn’t get that today. I got play right to the end, guys trying out there, the ball was moving, and Nasir was giving me pretty good effort too.”
“It’s a loss but it’s something to at least keep your head up on.”
BRISTOL EASTERN BOYS BASKETBALL
PLATT 84, BRISTOL EASTERN 50
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Platt 15 28 22 19 – 84
Bristol Eastern (3-9) 11 15 10 14 – 50
PLATT (84): Deante Torres 1 1 4, Justin Black 6 0 17, Juan Dancy 4 0 11, Anthony Nimani 7 1 20, Elijah Rodriguez 6 0 12, Josh Day 2 1 5, Makahi Anderson 5 2 12, Rayquan Bradshaw 1 0 3. Totals: 32 5 84.
BRISTOL EASTERN (50): Nasir Walker-Jenkins 1 6 8, Jerry Tatum 4 0 12, Channel Serrano 0 0 0, Lukas Sward 6 1 14, Dante Depass 0 0 0, Ben D’Amato 1 0 3, Brayden Dauphinais 1 0 2, Jalen Stokes 1 0 2, Nate Fries 1 4 7, Zaveyn Tate 0 0 0, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 1 0 2, Jah Gayle 0 0 0, Caleb Molinsky 0 0 0, Ethan Cockayne 0 0 0. Totals: 16 11 50.
Three-point goals: Deante Torres (P), Justin Black (P) 5, Juan Dancy (P) 3, Anthony Nimani (P) 5, Rayquan Bradshaw (P), Jerry Tatum (BE) 4, Lukas Sward (BE), Ben D’Amato (BE), Nate Fries (BE).
Records: Platt 9-3 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-9.
