By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern boys basketball team simply couldn’t get over the hump against Central Connecticut Conference competitor Avon on Monday night.

And the Falcons cashed in on several offensive rebounds for second and third shots as Avon secured a 62-43 victory from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium.

Avon moved to 3-0 on the young campaign while the Lancers are winless over two tries this year.

The Falcons snared 20 offensive rebounds, with many of those developing into high-percentage, second chance buckets.

Eastern played well defensively but those extra chances were extremely costly in the end.

“When you’re defending the first action so well and then all of a sudden, [Avon] just grabs the ball and gets an easy put-back, it’s deflating unless you’re scoring at will on the other end which we weren’t,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “It was just a tough thing to watch. Some of that might be [because] we’re a little undersized but when you spend four timeouts talking about going to get the ball, that’s a problem we’ll have to address. They’re going to have to change their DNA on that one.” 

“They’re going to have to get the ball.”

Avon’s Tyler Brokenshire led all players with 19 points while Isaac Aquilar flashed in 18 to lead a balanced scoring effort.

For Eastern, Nasir Walker-Jenkins flipped in 11 points and a couple of assists while Brayden Dauphinais added 11 points, five rebounds and a team-leading three assists.

Isiah Lawrence-Bynum had a tremendous game off the bench with six points and five rebounds, Lukas Sward nabbed four points and a couple rebounds while Jeremiah Tatum, Elijah Borgelin, and Ben D’Amato each canned a three-pointer before the conclusion of the game.

“Lukas, Dauphinais, Bynum, and even Ben came in and let one go,” said Ray. “Those guys have to go up there and they have to be confident. We kind of didn’t move the ball in some possessions. I will say this. I thought the ball movement was better but it’s not as consistent. We were trying to drive to the basket into piles of people. If we just stayed within what we were trying to do…we don’t have guys that are going to take over a game.” 

“We have to play as a team.”

Walker scored Eastern’s first five points but a 10-0 run by Avon did-in the Eastern lead as the Falcons went in front by a 12-5 push with 5:11 left to play in the first frame.

With Eastern trailing by 12, Bynum hit two consecutive lay-ups and when Dauphinais dropped in a 3, the deficit was chopped to 19-14 with 1:16 remaining in the first.

“When a team’s getting easy hoops and you’re fighting and clawing for every basket you get, you don’t get an easy basket,” said Ray. “I thought Bynum did a really good job getting us some easy baskets and doing some things out there. I thought he had a great night tonight. Defensively, there were some things, obviously behind the scenes, some assignments that people wouldn’t see but in terms of hustle and being able to provide some energy, that’s what you’re looking for from your bench.”

Avon led 23-14 through eight minutes but Eastern worked hard to make it a two-possession game.

A free throw from Dauphinais with 5:30 before the half chopped the deficit to 23-17 but the Lancers just couldn’t claw any closer.

Avon quickly got it back to double-figures again but a late three-point play from Dauphinais saw the Lancers get within six again at 32-26 with 1:19 remaining before the half.

The Falcons, through the halftime break, notched nine straight points and at the 5:42 mark of the third period, it was 41-26 contest in Avon’s favor.

Walker later hit a runner and Sward flipped in a basket to chop the deficit to 41-30 nearly halfway through the third stanza.

“When we shared the ball, it looked okay,” said Ray. “But we forced some things that we didn’t need to that allowed [Avon] to make a run away from us.”

The Falcons rebuilt the lead to end the third tilt, nabbed a 47-34 edge going into the fourth, and cruised the rest of the way – always maintaining its double-figure edge.

To end the scoring for Eastern, Borgelin, Tatum, and D’Amato dropped in 3s as Eastern absorbed a tough 19-point loss to fall to 0-2 on the campaign. 

“There were some things at the end there that we have to clean up,” said Ray. “This is tough. Now we have to start dealing with frustration too. They’re young kids [and] not only are they dealing with what’s going on the court, but they’re dealing with what’s going on in their own heads. When you’re failing, you’ve got to learn how to fail to succeed and right now, they’re just going out there and it’s just getting tougher and tougher.” 

“But I like this group. I think they’re going to fight through it. Everything you’ve got to take is something we can build upon down the road and I think we can build on some things that are going on out there, especially from the young guys.”  

RIM DUST…Eastern is a very young team but from the Plainville game to the challenge against Avon, the Kingtreeters have made some improvements with more coming down the pike.

“I need my veterans to lead a little bit more, but I think they will,” said Ray. “I think this team, once we start understanding each other, [will be better]. Don’t forget, we’re [only] two games in. We starting to learn what to do and how to play with each other. We just have to keep grinding and see where it goes.”   

Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball

AVON 62, BRISTOL EASTERN 43

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium

Avon (3-0) 23 11 13 15 – 62

Bristol Eastern (0-2) 14 12 8 9 – 43

AVON (62): Alan Brockman 2 0 5, Jadd Eldah 3 0 6, Isaac Aquilar 7 4 18, Tabor Engle 1 0 2, Tyler Brokenshire 8 0 19, Aidan Srb 2 0 6, Aarsh Moza 1 0 2, Emmert Borenstein 2 0 4. Totals: 26 4 62.

BRISTOL EASTERN (43): Nasir Walker-Jenkins 3 4 11, Jeremiah Tatum 1 0 3, Elijah Borgelin 1 0 3, Lukas Sward 2 0 4, Ben D’Amato 1 0 3, Jalen Stokes 0 0 0, Brayden Dauphinais 3 4 11, Nate Fries 0 2 2, Preston Guarda 0 0 0, Isiah Lawrence-Bynum 3 0 6. Totals: 14 10 43.

Three-point goals: Alan Brockman (A), Tyler Brokenshire (A) 3, Aidan Srb (A) 2, Nasir Walker-Jenkins (BE), Jeremiah Tatum (BE), Elijah Borgelin (BE), Ben D’Amato (BE), Brayden Dauphinais (BE).

Records: Avon 3-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 0-2