By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Trailing late to Platt on Thursday night, the Bristol Central boys basketball team nearly completed a comeback bid.
Down two points with 24.5 seconds remaining, the Panthers were cooperating by missing free throws as Central had control of the ball late.
But Platt was awarded an illegal timeout with less than 18 seconds to play and with the game hanging in the balance, Central committed late turnovers and the Panthers canned just enough charity tosses to escape the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium in Bristol with a 59-57 victory in a CCC South dandy.
Central (2-7) had several chances to steal the game late but missed opportunities, combined with several turnovers, kept the home team from regaining the lead one last time.
“We started the season talking about doing the little things,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “We’re young, we’re not that athletic. We got some good shooters out here. We’re kind of slow but let’s be honest, that comes with maturity as you grow into your body and things like that. If you want to win now, you have to do the little things. And you’ve got to execute.”
Platt (2-6) was young but athletic and while the squad missed several early field goals, the program eventually took advantage of several mistakes by the home team to put points on the board.
The Rams turned the ball over a dozen-and-a-half times and missed six of 10 attempts from the foul line as Platt held on for dear life – connecting on just 4-of-10 free throws over the final two minutes of regulation.
“We did some good things but when we run the right set and we get an open layup or we have a 3-on-1 fast break and we don’t score or we turn it over or we have our hands on the ball on a rebound and we give it up and they score, those little things, in a game you lose by two are really magnified,” said Barrette. “And that definitely happened tonight. We shot forty percent from the free throw line, I don’t know how many turnovers we had, 19 or 20. So in this game, a lot of that was unforced turnovers.”
“That’s a very difficult hill to climb and we almost did it.”
The game was afoot early as Central scored the first eight points, leading to an 11-2 push with 4:05 to play in the first period.
Mikey McMahon (17 points, five three-pointers) netted nine points in the run – hitting long bombs from what seemed like the Aldi’s parking lot.
“They left him open and he made them pay early,” said Barrette of McMahon. “He was on fire.”
Central led 12-8 with 1:33 showing on the clock in the first before going on a blazing 11-4 push to nab a double-figure edge.
Jayden Sokolski started the run with a 3, McMahon added a couple more trifectas and when Quincy Lawson, making his first ever varsity start, cashed in on a miss, Central led 23-12 with 5:38 remaining before the half.
However, Central went cold for a stretch of 6:49 when all it could muster was one field goal – a three-pointer from Jaysun Dominguez (seven points) – as Platt, feeding off miscues and gaffs by Central, used an 18-5 burst to go ahead 30-26 with 6:49 to play in the third quarter.
Eventually the deficit grew to eight when Platt’s Naiem Gill (game-high 22 points) scored off his own miss with 1:51 remaining in the third.
But Central fired back, scoring the final six points of the third period as McMahon swooped to the hoop for a bucket, Harry Ross (three points) laid in a shot via an assist from Carmelo Thompson (seven points) and when Dominguez scooped up a steal and drained a layup, Central was in the mix, trailing 43-41 with eight minutes to play.
Central’s Nate Ortiz (10 points, all fourth quarter) caught fire in the fourth and final frame, kicking in two threes over the first 59 seconds and then Thompson walked in for a layup to propel the home team to a 49-44 edge with 6:03 to play.
“I just had a feeling. Nate can score in bunches,” said Barrette of Ortiz. “He had a tough JV game tonight, tough start in the first half, didn’t really get many looks, wasn’t really involved in that first half but made that first [basket]. Ten points later, he’s instant offense and that’s one of the reasons why we enjoy him coming off the bench because we know we have a guy that can score when people are struggling.”
But the Rams missed three-of-four free throws over Platt’s 10-1 run as a foul shot by Gill gave the visiting aggression a 54-50 advantage with 1:59 left in regulation.
Eleven seconds later, Dominguez found Joey Pikiell for a three-pointer just in front of the Central bench with 1:48 left – chopping the deficit to 54-53.
On the ensuing possession, Ross blocked a shot, the Rams called for time seconds later – setting up what would have been the go-ahead hoop.
On a damning two possessions, a clean 3-point look by Pikiell went in and out with 70 seconds to play and on the flip side, Isaiah Summers’s jumper went in, looked to be coming out, but somehow fell through the net with 36.4 seconds remaining as Platt’s lead was 56-53.
“I thought down the stretch, we ran a couple good sets to get wide open looks,” said Barrette. “We were down two or three and Joey’s ball goes in and out on a perfectly run set [Summers’s shot] goes in, out, hits off the backboard and goes in. That was pretty much the epitome of how tonight went.”
Ortiz responded with two free throws and on a full court press, Gill was fouled, missing one of two free throws, as Platt was clinging to a two-point lead (57-55) with 24.5 seconds left in regulation.
Central was looking to answer but off a scrum juat over the mid-court line, as the Rams lost the ball and as it was rolling on the hardwood, neither team had possession of it.
However, in a shocking call, one of the officials allowed Platt a timeout under the protest of Barrette but to no avail.
The official claimed that the Panthers had the ball while it clearly wasn’t in anyone’s possession at that moment of the showdown.
From there, Platt made one charity shot, missed the second and Thompson pounced on the rebound.
Central had the ball down three (58-55) with 10.2 seconds to play but another turnover foiled the squad.
Platt’s Giovanni Leary canned a free throw with 6.4 seconds left, stretching the advantage to 59-55 before Ortiz hit a layup for points nine and ten.
Finally, with 1.1 seconds left, Leary missed two foul tosses but the rebound went the Panthers way as Central fell by two, 59-57.
“Their effort was fantastic,” said Barrette of his players. “My guys play hard. I appreciate that but playing hard and morale victories in game nine don’t work for me any more. We have to start executing and doing the little things. And it starts in practice. We have to do things in practice. How do you shoot free throws? How do you go through each drill?”
“And then when the [pressure] is ratcheted up in a two point game, can you handle it? But not if you don’t practice at that speed.”
The Rams are off until next Friday when Xavier comes to town for a non-conference challenge in Bristol.
Bristol Central Boys Basketball – CCC South Action
PLATT 59, BRISTOL CENTRAL 57
from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol
Platt (2-6) 11 17 15 16 – 59
Bristol Central (2-7) 18 8 15 16 – 57
PLATT (59): Isaiah Summers 2 3 7, Antonio Brown 1 0 2, Efrain Brown 4 0 8, Naiem Gill 9 3 22, Jason Delevante 3 6 12, Jeremiah Rodriquez 0 1 1, Daelon Bond-Streater 1 0 2, Giovanni Leary 0 1 1, Tim Boyd 2 0 4. Totals: 22 14-27 59.
BRISTOL CENTRAL (57): Gavin Chamberlin 0 0 0, Mikey McMahon 6 0 17, Cody Roy 0 0 0, Jaysun Dominguez 3 0 7, Nate Ortiz 3 2 10, Carmelo Thompson 3 0 7, Joey Pikiell 1 0 3, Harry Ross 1 1 3, Jayden Sokolowski 1 0 3, Quincy Lawson 3 1 7. Totals: 21 4-10 57.
Three-point goals: Salem Gill (P), Mikey McMahon (BC) 5, Jaysun Dominguez (BC), Nate Ortiz (BC) 2, Carmelo Thompson (BC), Joey Pikiell (BC), Jayden Sokolowski (BC).
Records: Platt 2-6 overall, Bristol Central 2-7.
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