By Michael Letendre

PLAINVILLE – For the second time this season, the Bristol Eastern boys basketball team made a furious fourth quarter comeback to stave off a loss in regulation.

However, after a quick start to overtime, the Lancers’ offense stalled out over the final 3:18 of the extra period as Plainville managed to pull out a 60-56 victory from the Ivan Wood Gymnasium on Wednesday.

It was a two step process for the Blue Devils (1-2) to seize the ultimate lead in the game as Tyshawn Johnson (16 points) made a steal and lay-up to tie things up and after an offensive foul was called on Eastern’s Trini Otero, Plainville used a ton of clock, stalling for one final field goal.

In the end, Omarion Miller (game-high 19 points, 14 over second half play) flipped in a floater with 33 seconds to play as the game-winning hoop made it a 58-56 contest that the Lancers would never recover from.

“We worked so hard to get it to overtime and once we got in there, [Plainville head coach Scot Wenzel] shrunk the game down,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “He’s got some quickness over there, he spread the floor out and obviously, we had a couple match-ups that weren’t favorable to us.”

A ton had to go right for Eastern (1-2) as starter Dylan Woodsome hurt his shoulder just one minute into things and a thin bench became even thiner.

With 1:51 left to play in regulation, Alec Couture (10 fourth period points) hit the third of his three 3-pointers in the frame as Plainville’s lead reached 53-44.

But the home team rushed the remainder of its offense to close out the fourth period and the Kingstreeters went on a mad dash to tie the game up – forcing overtime.

Otero (15 points, six rebounds, three assists) made a spin move for two and with 57 seconds remaining, a floater by Elijah Parent (15 points, four rebounds, three assists) cut the Eastern deficit to 53-48.

About ten seconds later, Couture was fouled, making 1-of-2 free throws which gave the Blue Devils a six point edge with 46.5 seconds to play in regulation.

From there, Nasir Walker (three points, three assists, three steals) banged in a 3 from the opposite baseline and suddenly, it was a one-possession game (56-53) with 36.6 seconds left.

Walker followed up his trifecta with a quick steal and the ball finally reached the hands of Eastern reserve guard Axel Fernandez (three points, three rebounds).

He proceeded to drop in his only attempt of the game – a three-pointer that found nothing but net – and with 24.3 seconds left in regulation, the contest was all tied up at 56-56.

“Axel hit a big 3 at the end [of regulation] which was great,” said Ray of Fernandez. “It gave us some lift but off the bench today, we had some turnovers. Those guys are trying. They’re giving us an honest effort. We were a little thin today when Woodsome goes down. Guys have to step up. We were forced to play three bigs against a team that you really don’t want to play three bigs against.” 

Plainville eventually took a timeout with 11.6 seconds left and the ball eventually found Plainville’s Brennan Staubley (five points), hanging around the three-point line.

His final shot of the fourth period was a long two pointer that was off the mark and another four minutes was added to the clock with the contest still knotted at 56-56.

“Credit our guys,” said Ray. “We come in on the road against a team that is making some shots and you have to match them basket for basket. We went dry a few times. There was a time where I thought we could have made a run but we weren’t moving the ball back inside-out like we wanted to.” 

Eastern started the game on fire, canning 6-of-9 field goals in securing a 13-5 edge with 1:50 to go in the first quarter – its biggest lead of the game. 

“We showed some grit,” said Ray. “We showed some determination.” 

From there, the Blue Devils went on a 19-5 dash as Eastern’s offense went dry and off a hoop by Miller, Plainville secured a 24-18 push with just under two minutes remaining before the half. 

“Plainville made some big shots in big situations,” said Ray. “We just went stale in one part of the game. It’s kind of like that for us all the time when we lose games like this.” 

“We’re in the game most of the time. We play hard, we work hard [but] we would have liked to see a bit more execution out of us.” 

Eastern’s Josh Kolano (team-highs of 16 points, 13 rebounds) hit two 3s to end the half as the visitors closed the deficit to one, 24-23.

The Lancers canned 9-of-17 field goals to end the first half (52.9-percent).

Fifty-two seconds into the third quarter, Plainville’s Dylan Hall (four points) made a steal and lay-up to stretch out the Eastern deficit to 31-24.

The Lancers got no closer than three the rest of the frame but was still hanging around, trailing 39-33 with eight minutes left to play in regulation.

Eastern threatened early in the fourth when Kolano canned a lay-up and Parent sank his only 3 of the game and quickly, it was a one-possession affair at 41-38.

Back-to-back 3s by Couture pushed Plainville’s lead out to nine again (47-38) with 5:34 left in the fourth.

Kolano, who seemed to drain a big 3 every time the Blue Devils looked to be making a run, canned a 3 with 3:20 to go in the fourth as Plainville’s lead was chopped to 49-44.

From there, Johnson hit a free throw and Couture canned his final three of the evening as Plainville led 53-44 before Eastern made its desperate bid for overtime which ended up successful.

To open overtime, Eastern’s Tyler Donohue (four points, nine rebounds), made a huge offensive rebound and put-back and though he missed a chance at an and-1, the Lancers snared a 58-56 edge with 3:18 to play. 

From there, two critical turnovers allowed the Blue Devils to recapture the lead to end the showdown.

“In a game like that, it’s going to come down to one or two offensive plays,” said Ray. “If you make those, good things happen. We had a big turnover when we had the lead to give them a basket. I’ll take the blame for that. Personnel wise, we probably should have stayed aggressive, trying to spread the floor out and get a better look.” 

“We just turned the ball over in a situation when we didn’t need to.” 

The Lancers comeback was impressive even as the squad came up a bit short in the end, falling by four. 

“Every bounce has to go your way when you don’t have any margin for error,” said Ray. “The bounces didn’t go our way today.” 

PLAINVILLE 60, BRISTOL EASTERN 56 (OT)

From the Ivan Wood Gymnasium, Plainville

Bristol Eastern (1-2) 13 11 9 21 2 – 56

Plainville (0-2) 12 14 13 15 6 – 60

BRISTOL EASTERN (56): Dylan Woodsome 0 0 0, Trini Otero 5 4 15, Josh Kolano 5 3 16, Elijah Parent 7 0 15, Nasir Walker 1 0 3, Tyler Donohue 2 0 4, Trevor Nohilly 0 0 0, Axel Fernandez 1 0 3, Jack Stavens 0 0 0. Totals: 21 7 56.

PLAINVILLE (60): Alec Couture 4 1 13, Dylan Hall 2 0 4, Omarion Miller 8 0 19, Artern Monica 0 2 2, TyShawn Johnson 4 7 16, Brennan Staubley 2 0 5, AJ Lestini 1 0 2, Cam LaMothe 0 0 0. Totals: 21 10 60.

Three-point goals: Nasir Walker (BE), Elijah Parent (BE), Josh Kolano (BE) 3, Axel Fernandez (BE), Trini Otero (BE), Alec Couture (P) 3, Omarion Miller (P) 3, Tyshawn Johnson (P), Brennan Staubley (P).

Records: Plainville 1-2; Bristol Eastern 1-2.