By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Eventually, the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team was going to have to compete against one of the giants of the CCC South.
And the squad from Platt, an athletic, smooth and talented program, checks off all the boxes of a state contender.
They proved exactly that on Thursday night, flipping the Lancers by a 65-42 final from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
It was only the second loss by the Lancers (6-2) and while the locals didn’t shy away from the pressure, every turnover or offensive rebound by Platt (7-2) seemed to bite Eastern as the Panthers danced and dunked their way to an early cushion and never looked back.
“You always think how do you stop the other team?” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “In this case, you have to score with the other team. Your offense has to be your defense. Unfortunately, we got some good looks. They didn’t go in so that energy is almost non-existent.”
“When you’re going down court, you’re digging in, doing the best you can and [when] you’re not scoring on the other end, it’s really hard.”
Platt’s 1-2 punch of forwards Anthony Nimani (game-high 22 points) and Makahi Anderson (17 points) were a blur in motion, finishing with power at the rim with dunks and timely put-backs.
“They have a lot of answers,” said Ray of Platt. “You’re not going to go three or four possessions in a row without them scoring with those weapons. They have an inside game [and] they have other guys that can score. They have two superstars. It’s just one of those things where you just have to have your night while you’re playing with them.”
Eastern’s Lukas Sward attacked the hoop with zest for his second 15-point showing in a row.
He shot a sterling 6-of-10 from the field while adding six assists.
Nate Fries (seven rebounds) held his own in the front court with all the trees and athletes from Platt, playing well.
“Nate Fries, he’s the guy that probably deserves the most credit in terms of how he played, in terms of his effort,” said Ray. “He did the things that nobody sees. I appreciate the things that he was doing out there. He was getting his hands on balls. It was a tough night. He had to guard tough kids. He had to help. He was everywhere. I look out on the floor, and I see that and I said to myself, ‘man, there’s a kid giving you maximum effort.’”
“They all gave us max effort but to see it out of the senior, it was good.”
Ben D’Amato (eight points) made his first basket to tie the event up at 2-2 but was tripped , fell and had to come out of the game for a spell.
Platt followed the injury timeout with a 11-2 burst and off a 3 by
Jason Delavante (10 points), the visitors led 13-4 with 3:47 left to go in the first.
Eastern’s Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum (four rebounds) canned a hook shot with two minutes left in the first but after one, the home team trailed 18-8.
The Panthers held a 14-point cushion midway through the second stanza before D’Amato canned back-to-back 3s and with 6:11 left before the half, the Lancers were in it – trailing just 22-14.
Platt then started turning Eastern miscues into points while Brayden Dauphinais (four points, two rebounds) and Sward hit second period buckets for the home team.
But at the half, the Panthers were ahead on the scoreboard 35-20.
The Panthers opened the third tilt on an 8-2 jaunt and off a lay-up by Nimani, the Lancers were down 43-22 with 4:48 left.
“We had a tough time on transition defense tonight in the second half,” said Ray. “That gave them a lot of baskets. Every time we missed, they came down and it was just quick. And every time they made a shot, because it was an easy one, they had an organized pressure, so we had to be an organized press-breaker. When you see a couple stops here or there, and we could get out and run a little bit and score, it becomes kind of even in the open floor.”
“But when you’re trying to execute against those types of athletes…we’re just not polished quite yet.”
Jordan Chisholm (five points, three rebounds) and Sward drained 3s late in the third but at the end of three, Platt built an imposing 54-28 lead.
Midway through the fourth, the Panthers were about to make it a 30-point cushion but Eastern sprang to life a bit as an 11-2 run – fueled by the play of Zaveyn Tate (five points, six rebounds, three assists) – the Kingstreeters chopped it down to 61-42 with 1:39 showing on the clock.
“At the end, those guys were just trying to get out in transition, get some easy hoops,” said Ray. “They were just playing basketball. I think what happened was Platt scored a lot of baskets and they set the pressure up. If we got stops, we were able to go the other way, it was a little different.”
But the Lancers couldn’t creep any closer in the end as Eastern absorbed a tough 23-point loss at home to Platt.
“We just didn’t do a couple little things. That’s the only thing I’d give us a low mark on,” said Ray. “It’s midseason, it’s kind of early to be patting people on the back for effort. We’re trying to win games. We have to be able to do the little things and I know it’s difficult. People weren’t in the right spots in certain situations. It’s easier said than done against that much pressure.”
“There’s so much pressure on the ball that you just have to be able to play and it’s hard to prepare for that especially when you haven’t seen it.”
Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball – CCC South Competition
PLATT 65, BRISTOL EASTERN 42
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Platt (7-2) 18 17 19 11 – 65
Bristol Eastern (6-2) 8 12 8 14 – 42
PLATT (65): Justin Black 1 0 2, Makahi Anderson 8 1 17, Anthony Nimani 10 1 22, Jason Delavante 3 3 10, Antonio Brown 1 1 4, Isaiah Summers 2 0 4, Tim Boyd 2 0 4, Efrain Brown 1 0 2. Totals: 28 6 65.
BRISTOL EASTERN (42): Nate Fries 0 0 0, Zaveyn Tate 2 1 5, Brayden Dauphinais 2 0 4, Lukas Sward 6 2 15, Ben D’Amato 3 0 8, Jordan Chisholm 2 0 5, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 1 0 2, Donte DePass 0 0 0, Brady Bell 0 1 1, Naseem Walker 1 0 2, Chase Dauphinee 0 0 0. Totals: 17 4 42.
Three-point goals: Nimani (P), Delavante (P), A. Brown (P), Sward (BE), D’Amato (BE) 2, Chisholm (BE).
Totals: Platt 7-2 overall, Bristol Eastern 6-2.
