By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – On Friday night, the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team started its CCC interdivisional contest against Rocky Hill on absolute fire.
The locals went 8-for-8 from the field to start the game, then settled on 12 makes over its 16 attempts in what turned into a 74-28 blowout from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
Eastern (7-3) ended up shooting a healthy 47-percent clip from the field overall as defense led to offense and everyone in a blue and white uniform got into the mix before things were said and done.
“Some nights, you just have it,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “It was all our defense. We were turning them over, getting stops and just running to the other side for easy baskets. The first time we played them [ten days previous], we kind of stayed in the half-court and took a long time to score. This was just our defense that really turned into offense.”
The 74 points marks the most points an Eastern team has scored under Ray.
Back on February 17, 2015, the Lancers dropped 97 points at Platt in a 35-point triumph but that was under then head coach Mike Giovinazzo – the last time Eastern program was able to top the 74-point mark.
Against the Terriers, reserve guard Jordan Chisholm played his finest game in a Lancers’ uniform.
In just 12 minutes of work, the sophomore standout blasted home a career-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting that included three 3-pointers to lead all scorers.
“It felt good,” said Chisholm. “It felt good to score.”
But he also filled the stat sheet with six rebounds, four assists and four steals as Chisholm did not have an equal out on the court.
“He was outstanding tonight,” said Ray of Chisholm. “He had a look in his eyes. He was knocking down 3s, going to the basket, moving the basketball. He’s capable. He’s one of our best scorers and if he can figure it out, it just gives us another threat.”
And also, credit reserve forward/center Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum who just missed out on his first career double-double.
He tied his career high with eight points while adding 10 rebounds and two steals to the till – leading the squad in minutes (21).
“Bynum was awesome,” said Ray. “He’s got his minutes limited here and there but tonight was a night where I thought we just let him on the floor to get out there and get himself even more comfortable. He got big rebounds. He did a god job on their big kid [Alex Kastner]. Offensively, he came a long way from last year. He’s another threat out there.”
‘I’m happy for him. He’s a good kid.”
Rathan Tejeda led Rocky Hill with eight points, hitting two 3s along the way.
It was just a 4-2 game ninety seconds in before a quick 16-0 Lancers’ run – highlighted by two buckets by Zaveyn Tate (10 points, 5-for-5 shooting, four assists) and a 3 from Naseem Walker (five points, three steals) – gave Eastern a 20-2 edge with 2:55 left to play in the first frame.
Off two Terriers’ free throws, the Kingstreeters surged even further ahead via a 12-0 burst, cued by three high-percentage hoops from Lukas Sward (11 points, three assists, three steals), as Eastern was comfortably ahead 32-4 with 6:15 remaining in the second stanza.
To end the half, Dante DePass (four points, four rebounds, two assists) found Brady Bell (four points, two rebounds) for a hoop and when Walker dished out one final pass to Chisholm for a bucket, Eastern’s edge at the half was 46-9.
The Lancers opened up the third tilt with a 15-4 push as Sward started the jaunt with a pass to Drew Fries (six points, three assists) that led to a 3-pointer and to end the run, Chisholm had the play of the game.
Chisholm tossed a perfect Tom Brady like pass to Brayden Dauphinais (four points, five rebounds, three assists) and his lay-up made it a 61-13 cushion with 2:57 to go in the third.
“It’s a connection between us two,” said Chisholm of the pass to Dauphinais. “When I threw it, I just knew he was going to catch it. He caught it and laid it up.”
A floater by Walker ended the third period scoring with the Lancers comfortably ahead on the scoreboard by 50 (66-16) as Ray had his deep-dish reserves in to open fourth quarter play.
“I’ve been on the other side of that [score] a few times. We’re going to show class,” said Ray. “We’re going to respect our opponent. We’re going to move the ball. We’ve still got to play basketball. I thought our young kids when they came in, they did a good job scoring as well.”
To end the game, Bell canned another hoop, Walker found Cheniel Serrano for a basket and DePass netted the final four points of the showdown as Eastern hit the pay window via the 46-point win at the halfway portion of the scholastic season.
“All in all, it was just a great team win,” said Ray. “It was a good day for our program.”
Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball – CCC Interdivisional Contest
BRISTOL EASTERN , ROCKY HILL
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Rocky Hill (1-10) 4 5 7 12 – 28
Bristol Eastern (7-3) 28 18 20 8 – 74
ROCKY HILL (28): Casey Robinson 1 2 4, Yaz Aftab 0 2 2, Jaden Veal 3 0 7, Tyler Carlstrom 0 0 0, Rathan Tejeda 3 0 8, Keagan Alexander 0 1 1, Anthony Lombardo 1 0 2, Isaiah Papryca 0 0 0, Alex Kastner 2 0 4. Totals: 10 5 28.
BRISTOL EASTERN (74): Naseem Walker 2 0 5, Nate Fries 2 1 6, Jordan Chisholm 6 2 17, Lukas Sward 5 1 11, Dante DePass 1 2 4, Ben D’Amato 1 0 3, Zaveyn Tate 5 0 10, Brayden Dauphinais 2 0 4, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 4 0 8, Brady Bell 2 0 4, Cheniel Serrano 1 0 2, Chase Dauphinee 0 0 0. Totals: 31 6 74.
Three-point goals: Veal (RH), Tejeda (RH) 2, D’Amato (BE), Fries (BE), Chisholm (BE) 3, Walker (BE).
Records: Bristol Eastern 7-3 overall; Rocky Hill 1-10.
