By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – After hitting what appeared to be the go-ahead hoop, the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team held a 41-40 lead over CCC South rival Maloney on Tuesday night with just 1.3 seconds to play.
After a smooth 12-foot baseline jumper from sophomore Brayden Dauphinais gave the Lancers that one-point edge, Maloney set-up what turned out to be a full-court, game winning drive.
With two players in the vicinity of Maloney’s Tadrique Jones, hanging around the Maloney three-point stripe, the Spartans made their move.
As the ball came hurling past midcourt, Eastern’s Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum was able to tip the ball but it landed in the outstretch hands of Jones.
Somehow, over those 1.3 seconds, the ball survived the Lawrence-Bynum tip, Jones dribbling twice towards the hoop and laying it in at the buzzer as Maloney pulled off a 42-41 victory from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
Jones, playing for the first time since transferring to Maloney, added 13 points to pace the victors.
But the Spartans attempted to give the game away, leading by four with less than a minute to play before five straight points – all from Dauphinais (game-high 14 points, six rebounds) – gave Eastern a chance before the game-winning heroics by Jones ended the contest in disappointment for the Kingstreeters.
“We didn’t go away,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there. We had a big lead to start the game, then turned the ball over, and we just didn’t do what we needed to do against different types of defenses.”
Dauphinais was clutch late, burying a huge 3 with 52 seconds to play and off a Maloney turnover, the sophomore was at it again – somehow weaving through traffic on the baseline to get off the shot that gave Eastern’s it’s first edge since halftime.
“You’re hoping the score holds up just for his sake. That would have been great for him,” said Ray of Dauphinais. “Obviously at the end of the game, we weren’t able to stop them. But he made a big 3. He made that baseline drive. Those were good plays for him. We need to build off those. We need him especially now that we’re depleted.”
Eastern led for a total of 17 seconds over the third and fourth quarters, partially due to a sloppy offensive performance that included 31 turnovers with many of those unforced miscues leading to offense for Maloney.
“I think a lot of those turnovers were us not being fundamentally sound,” said Ray. “We were throwing passes cross court, not throwing overhead passes, and not being able to look down [floor] like we talked about. When athletic teams play you, they want you to throw the ball across. You’ve got to beat that down and we just didn’t look down. Part of that was Bynum-Lawrence being in foul trouble which didn’t help.”
“There was not a lot of inside presence today.”
Eastern was running away with the game early and when Nasir Walker-Jenkins (seven points, five assists) flipped in a 3, Dauphinais canned a short turnaround, and off a baseline trifecta from Ben D’Amato, the Lancers surged in front 16-4 with 1:24 to play in the first period – the largest lead of the game by either team.
Dante DePass (four points, two rebounds) ended the tilt with a hoop, giving the Lancers a 10-point lead through one (18-8) and after Jerry Tatum (six rebounds) and Dauphinais connected on back-to-back buckets, Eastern was on top 22-12 with just four minutes before the half.
However, turnovers began to pile up for Eastern, Maloney nabbed several offensive rebounds for second chance points and off the power of a 16-2 burst, the Spartans nabbed a 28-24 lead with 6:16 left in the third quarter.
“Everybody is more athletic than us. I was a little disappointed in that,” said Ray. “We did grab some loose balls here and there but that was the name of the game. We stopped them initially, it’s like a broken record. They just got easy baskets inside. They bullied us inside. We’re just not able to stop them.”
“Some of those, I think, we could have gotten but you’ve got to want it.”
Nate Fries canned three consecutive foul shots and Dauphinais hit his first three to end the stanza and with eight minutes remaining, Maloney held a 34-30 lead.
But Maloney, in control of the game to open the fourth, never held more than a five-point advantage in the game and when Lawrence-Bynum (six points, five boards) hit two straight hoops for the Lancers, the deficit was trimmed to 38-36 with 3:48 left.
Maloney’s Tylee Flowers canned a lay-up about a minute later and the visitors tried to stall with a four-point lead in hand.
But Maloney committed several turnovers down the stretch as a missed 3 by Walker-Jenkins was sandwiched between two travels by the Spartans.
Dauphinais drained his last 3 with just over 50 seconds left, trimming the deficit to 40-39, and it appeared Eastern had forced a 10 second violation in the backcourt on the ensuing drive but Maloney had called for timeout at the last possible second.
A traveling violation with 29.9 seconds left gave the ball back to Eastern as the squad used clock to set Dauphinais up for one final hoop.
He hit his shot for the 41-40 lead but Maloney had called for time just as the buzzer sounded and 1.3 seconds were put back on the clock.
From there, Jones flipped in the game-winning hoop as the final horn sounded with the Spartans stealing a 42-41 decision.
“When you’re struggling for wins and have a chance to win one and you don’t get one, I think it’s more crushing to be honest with you,” said Ray. “We just have to go back and keep working. The young kids are trying their best. I’m throwing freshmen in there, I’m throwing other kids in there. The biggest thing is just knowing what you’re doing in a situation like that. Slowing it down and being able to set good screens and read the defense without panic.”
“Between loose balls and panic turnovers, it’s a frustrating game because it was a one you could win easily if you’re just a little bit more poised. But poise doesn’t happen overnight…you have to just go through it.”
RIM DUST…Lukas Sward (two points, four rebounds) missed a chuck of the first quarter after getting popped in the nose but co-led the squad in steals with three…The Lancers forced 20 Maloney turnovers, held the squad to 30.5-percent shooting from the field and a 1-for-12 clip from three-point range.
BRISTOL EASTERN BOYS BASKETBALL
MALONEY 42, BRISTOL EASTERN 41
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Maloney (3-8) 8 14 12 8 – 42
Bristol Eastern (3-10) 18 6 6 11 – 41
MALONEY (42): Tylee Flowers 3 0 6, Donte Kelly 2 1 5, Tijion Johnson 2 2 7, Marquis Ward 2 0 4, Stone De’Leon 3 1 7, Tadrique Jones 6 1 13. Totals: 18 5 42.
BRISTOL EASTERN (41): Nasir Walker-Jenkins 1 4 7, Lukas Sward 1 0 2, Jerry Tatum 1 0 2, Ben D’Amato 1 0 3, Bryden Dauphinais 6 0 14, Nate Fries 0 3 3, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 3 0 6, Jalen Stokes 0 0 0, Dante DePass 2 0 4, Jah Gayle 0 0 0, Jordan Chisholm 0 0 0. Totals: 15 7 41.
Three-Point goals: Tijion Johnson (M), Nasir Walker-Jenkins (BE), Brayden Dauphinais (BE) 2, Ben D’Amato (BE).
Records: Maloney 3-8 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-10
