By Joey Pikiell and Jim Tetro
On Friday night, Bristol Central took on Bristol Eastern at in the annual Bristol Central Holiday Tournament. It was a game to remember.
In a contest that went into overtime, Bristol Eastern’s Naseem Walker hit a three point shot with four seconds left. This erased a two point Central lead and lifted the Lancers to a 56-55 win over their cross-town rivals.
Central came ready to play and jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game. Eastern did not score until the 3:27 mark when Brady Bell scored on a drive off a pass from Tygue Collins. Central increased their lead significantly to fourteen points with a score of 17-3. Then, a basket by BE’s Zaveyn Tate with ten seconds left in the period narrowed it to a 17-6 game. The Rams got seven points from Quincy Lawson and six from Gavin Chamberlin in the quarter.
Eastern opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run to cut the Central lead to one at 17-16. Tate scored five and fed Bell for a hoop to highlight the run.
A three from Joey Pikiell stopped the BE run. BC went on to lead 27-20 at the half. The Rams got a late three from Jayden Sokolowski and two foul shots from Nate Ortiz to end the period.
The third period saw Eastern take their first lead, at 33-32 on a Tate basket at the 3:45 mark. Eastern went up 39-34 following two foul shots by Jordan Chisholm. Then, a hoop by Lawson came. This was followed by 3 foul shots by Central’s Cody Roy. He was fouled on a three-point attempt from just over half-court. The three charity tosses tied the game at 39-39 at the end of three.
In the fourth quarter, Eastern never trailed. They also never led by more than four. The teams went back and forth with neither taking total charge.. Trailing 50-46, Central got two foul shots from Chamberlin and a big offensive rebound for a put-back basket from Lawson to send the game into overtime.
This was Bristol Central’s third straight overtime game.
In the four minute overtime, Eastern’s Dante DePass hit a three pointer on Eastern’s first possession. On the next BC possession, Joey Pikiell answered with a three, tying game at 53-53.
There was no more scoring in the OT until Central’s Lawson scored on a tip-in of a missed BC shot. This gave the Rams the lead 55-53 with just seven seconds to play.
Eastern inbounded the ball quickly and Walker was able to hit the game winning three with four seconds to play for the Lancer victory.
For Eastern, Tate finished with 22 points and Chisholm added 14. Walker scored eight, all after three periods of play.
Leading scorers for Central were Pikiell with 13, and Chamberlin with 12. Chamberlin also went a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line. Quincy Lawson had his 3rd double double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
With their third straight win, Eastern now stands at 3-1 for the season. Central drops to 1-3.
Central will now play Terryville, who lost to Capital Prep in the first game on Friday. The game will be on Monday at 4:00. Eastern will face Capital Prep in the for the championship at 6:00.
Bristol Eastern (3-1): Naseem Walker 3 0 8, Jordan Chisholm 4 4 14, Tygue Collins 0 0 0, Zaveyn Tate 9 4 22, Jacob Kingsley 0 0 0, Brady Bell 3 1 7, Ryan Gaity 0 0 0, Drew Viens 0 0 0, Stone Lowe 0 0 0 Dante DePass 2 0 5. Totals: 21 9 56.
Bristol Central (1-3): Gavin Chamberlin 2 8 12, Jayden Sokolowski 1 0 3, Cody Roy 0 3 3, Nate Ortiz 1 2 4, Joey Pikiell 4 2 13, Malikia Holley 3 0 6, Jackson Ray 0 0 0, Jose Taveras 1 0 2, Jaidyn Kollie 0 0 0, Quincy Lawson 5 2 12. Totals: 17 17 55.
- Bristol Eastern: 6 14 19 11 6 – – – – 56
- Bristol Central: 17 10 12 11 5 – – – 55
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