By Michael Letendre

HARTFORD – The 28th ranked Bristol Eastern boys basketball team finished the 2021 fighting to the end, dropping a tough 59-51 decision on the road to #25 Hartford Public in a CCC bracket four tournament showdown on Thursday afternoon.

The Owls, the top ranked squad in the bracket, entered its contest against Eastern with a bye and was well rested for their showdown with the Kingstreeters.

It was only a 55-49 game with 2:15 to play but the Lancers (3-9) ran out of gas trying to keep up with Public (4-9).

“That’s an athletic team and obviously, you have to make plays against them,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “I just think we wore down.”

Eastern had to chase every player that wore a Hartford Public uniform as the home team showed remarkable balance offensively.

Abdul Sani led the Owls with 14 points, Nashaun Hill added 13, Jacquell Harris and Wayne Martin nabbed nine apiece while Ehijha Perry scored eight.

Eastern’s Elijah Parent ended his career with 21 points, three assists and three steals – notching 16 points over the first half of action to keep things close.

“He’s our scorer, he’s our guy,” said Ray of Parent. “He’s got to have a good night for us to be in the game and he did. He gave us a chance to stay in the game.”

Josh Kolano scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds to end a successful one-year stint on the squad, Tyler Donohue had a great finish with eight points and five rebounds while Nasir Walker was everywhere on the court (six points, four assists, six steals).

“One senior, that’s all we’ve got” next season said Ray. “We’ve got to build with young kids but I like what the one senior who’s coming back did. Down the stretch, I thought Nasir played extremely well. He gives us a lot of energy. He’s expending a lot of energy out there.”

“When he plays tired, sometimes he makes mistakes but he gets tired because he works so hard to get to that point.”

Trini Otero added five points and three rebounds, Dylan Woodsome scooped in a team-high seven rebounds, while Brayden Dauphinais scored a hoop.

Trevor Nohilly provided excellent defense over his 12 minutes of play that included three rebounds and Jack Stavens and Axel Fernandez all contributed.

Eastern forced Public into 22 turnovers, aided by 13 steals, but that took a ton of effort to produce as the Lancers were running up and down with the Owls.

“We expended so much energy on defense, when we got to the offensive end, a couple shots were a little short,” said Ray. “You hope a few of those lay-ups might have gone down, a couple threes might have gone down. We fought right to the end though.”

It was back-and-forth early as Public led by as many as seven midway through the first quarter but Eastern finished the frame with a hoop from Parent and when a steal and Walker lay-up ended the first eight minutes of play, the squads were all tied up at 18-18.

A Parent 3 only 59 seconds into the second stanza gave Eastern a 21-20 push but off a basket by Andre Timothe, Hartford never trailed again.

Midway through the second, Kolano and Parent hit back-to-back hoops to trim the deficit to 29-27 with 2:21 remaining before the half.

But the Owls went on a run that lasted into the third frame as a 10-2 jaunt, capped by a 3 from Perry with 3:47 left, put Public on top by a 39-29 edge.

Eastern kept the pressure on defensively and when Walker and Parent added lay-ups and Fernandez found Donohue for a hoop, Eastern was still hanging around – trailing 42-37 through three completed frames.

An intentional foul by Kolano to open the fourth started Public on a 6-0 spurt as the team lead 48-37 with 6:53 left to go. 

But Eastern put together one more run as a 10-5 burst saw Otero score three points, Kolano canned two free throws and when Parent buried a 3 and another jumper, the Lancers were down just 53-47 with 2:46 showing on the clock.

It was still six with 2:15 left but misses began to pile up for Eastern and when Perry canned a 3 and later hit a free throw, it was a double-figure deficit again (59-49).

A late Dauphinais hoop ended the scoring for both squads as Eastern absorbed a tough 59-51 defeat to end its season at 3-9.

“Every time we were getting a little closer, they just had us at an arm’s length,” said Ray. “I thought our slow start eventually was going to catch up to us and it did.”

NOTES…The contest marked the final scholastic game for Eastern seniors Jack Stavens, Trini Otero, Josh Kolano, Tyler Donohue, Axel Fernandez, Trevor Nohilly and co-captains Dylan Woodsome and Elijah Parent.

HARTFORD PUBLIC 59, BRISTOL EASTERN 51

from Hartford Public high school

Bristol Eastern (3-9) 18 9 10 14 – 51 

Hartford Public (4-9) 18 16 8 17 – 59

BRISTOL EASTERN (59): Nasir Walker 3 0 6, Elijah Parent 8 2 21, Josh Kolano 2 4 9, Dylan Woodsome 0 0 0, Trini Otero 2 1 5, Brayden Dauphinais 1 0 2, Tyler Donohue 4 0 8, Nate Fries 0 0 0. Totals 20 7 51.

HARTFORD PUBLIC (51): Ehijha Perry 2 2 8, Nashaun Hill 4 3 13, Jacquell Harris 4 0 9, Wayne Martin 4 1 9, Andre Timothe 2 0 4, Keron Askew 1 0 2, Abdul Sani 7 0 14. Totals 24 6 59.

Three-pointers: Parent (BE) 3, Kolano (BE), Perry (HP) 2, Hill (HP) 2, Harris (HP).

Records: Hartford Public 4-9 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-9