By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – At the halfway point of the season for the Bristol Eastern boys basketball squad, the team – entering the week at 7-3 – is on the cusp of qualifying for the state tournament for the first time since 2015.
The Lancers have played some really good basketball this season and managed to topple some excellent programs.
Eastern won five games in a row this season and have taken six of the last eight contests since dropping a tough 53-47 decision to Hall back on December 20.
The other two losses came at the hands of Platt (65-42) and Glastonbury (57-39) – programs that are currently a combined 17-5.
Hall is 7-4 overall as all of the Lancers’ losses have come against very good programs in the Central Connecticut Conference.
“The losses are against tough opponents,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “Even tonight [against Rocky Hill last Friday], I told my players we’re playing against ourselves just as much, trying to get back to that winning mentality after losing two in a row, playing tough teams.”
Eastern’s Jordan Chisholm led three scorers in double figures against Rocky Hill with 17 points, Lukas Sward nabbed 11 while Zaveyn Tate added 10 on perfect shooting from the field.
The win against Rocky Hill gave Eastern a clean sweep against the program this season – putting the Lancers one game away from state tournament qualification.
A 5-5 record the rest of the way would give the Kingstreeters a 12-8 ledger while – at a worst-case scenario – a 1-9 record over the final 10 games would put Eastern at 8-12, still playoff bound in Division IV.
Speaking of Division IV, the Lancers are currently in 12th place in the overall playoff standings and just need to win one final game to qualify for the big dance.
That win could come at the expense of Watertown this Monday on the road (6:45 p.m., Robert B. Cook Memorial Gymnasium) who current is at the very bottom of the Division IV standings (1-10).
Also for Eastern, trips to Maloney and Platt are in the cards to end the month of January while Eastern will play five of its final seven regular season games from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
Eastern last played in both the CCC Tournament and the CIAC state tournament in 2015.
In Eastern’s first round Class L bout, No. 28 Bristol Eastern (10-11 overall going into first round play) battled No. 6 Bunnell over a tremendous thirty-two-minute opening round battle.
Eastern held a 49-44 fourth period edge before dropping a tough 61-55 decision to the eventual Class L champs back on March 10, 2015.
Daron McKoy helped Eastern to a 28-26 halftime lead against Bunnell with 16 points – connecting on five three-pointers along the way.
George Taylor III added 15 points and four assists, freshman Tyler Arbuckle collected 10 points, three rebounds and two assists, Darieyn Tate had five points and three assists while Kevin Love connected for four points and collected nine rebounds.
Eastern drained 11-of-25 shots from 3 and put together a game plan, under the leadership of coach Mike Giovinazzo and then assistant Bunty Ray, which almost toppled the future champs.
And those 3s are just important in 2022-23.
When Eastern can hit its threes this season, the squad is a dangerous bunch and just like against Rocky Hill (37.5-percent shooting from deep).
Execution is the key to any win the Lancers have enjoyed to date this season and when this team is all on the same page, success has followed.
“It mattered more how we played today than how much we won by or anything else,” said Ray. “I thought we executed everything pretty well.”
