By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – For a half against an aggressive Berlin squad, the boys over at Bristol Eastern hung tough against the Redcoats on Tuesday night.

But foul trouble and turnovers doomed the Lancers in the end as Berlin secured a 56-37 victory in a CCC South confrontation from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

The win propelled Berlin to 3-1 overall while Eastern fell to 1-4.

Already down two starters due to illness, the Lancers had several players collect early fouls that  zapped Eastern’s depth.

And then the miscues, 19 in all, stalled out Eastern’s shooting capabilities as Berlin turned defense into offense.

“I think the physicality got to us a little bit in the second half,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “We were playing younger kids because we were in a lot of foul trouble. Our combinations were a little off. I was throwing a couple guys in. We still have a couple starters out to COVID.”

“I was throwing some young kids in there and the physicality was [high].”

Eastern’s leading scorer, Nasir Walker-Jenkins, was disqualified in only 17 minutes of action but provided four points and two steals before fouling out.

Starter Nate Fries drew his fifth foul at the end of third period play while Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum spent most of the first half on the pine.

“The foul trouble was just a killer tonight,” said Ray. “It was just a killer for us.”

Eastern shot the ball extremely well, hitting 15-of-31 field goals overall but simply couldn’t produce enough of them to make a difference.

The Lancers canned 9-of-14 shots from the field over the first half but still trailed by two possessions at intermission.

“I don’t think they can read the defense,” said Ray of his squad. “It wasn’t necessarily what they [Berlin] were doing to us. It was just us and our inexperience not reversing the ball and getting it to the right spots. We did in moments and found shooters but every time we tried to drive, we couldn’t get to the basket and it was a recipe for disaster in the second half.”

Eastern’s offensive sparkplug was sophomore Ben D’Amato as the smooth shooter drained a season-high 15 points – hitting 5-of-7 shots from 3.

That nearly matched his dad’s career-high of six three-pointers which Chris D’Amato canned for Eastern back on January 22, 1994 against St. Paul.

Ben D’Amato was smooth and shot in rhythm with some of his bombs barely grazing the rim.

“That’s what he’s there for,” said Ray of D’Amato. “He’s there to give us offense. He’s there to do the things he needs to do offensively. I have to give him a lot of credit. I did mention [that] Nasir’s out of the game [due to foul trouble and] we’ve got other guys rotated out and we’ve got to look to Motts. He created some shots. He worked really hard tonight to try to get his shots too.”

“He was in the right place at the right time. I thought the ball found his hands at the right time.”

Berlin’s Zach Skinner led the charge with 21 points, Marino Fanelli added 12, while River Eberhardt scored 11.

The Redcoats didn’t shoot the ball extremely well, hitting under 42-percent from the field thanks to a stingy defensive effort from the Lancers but 20 offense rebounds helped to fuel second chance scoring opportunities for the visiting aggression.

Eastern never led in the game but forced four ties over a give-and-take first period of play as the teams battled to a 14-14 stalemate just eight minutes in.

Walker had to sit most of the second stanza as he picked up his third foul with 4:28 to go in the half, with Eastern down by seven, but his teammates picked up the slack to keep the Kingstreeters in it.

Late in the second, D’Amato drilled his second 3 of the contest, Lukas Sward (five points) connected on a long jumper off a nice feed by Fries and when Elijah Borgelin put back his own miss, the deficit was just 24-21 with a minute to go before the break.

Down by five to start the third, Borgelin knocked in a free throw to chop the deficit to four at 26-22 but a quick 10-0 Berlin burst put the thing away.

Skinner and Eberhardt plunked in back-to-back threes and on two consecutive steals – and ensuing lay-ups – the Redcoats were in front by a 36-22 tally with 2:40 left to play in the third tilt.

“With Nasir sitting, it was hard to get quick offense,” said Ray. “We didn’t get any transition baskets. We didn’t get anything from the foul line and we didn’t get anything inside. So if you don’t get those three things, you’re going to have to work for perimeter shots. You’re not going to be able to shoot quick because we’re not breaking them down off the dribble as fast.”

“We ran great offense [and] we’re getting better at it. We just didn’t have the horses to shoot them quick enough for more opportunities.”

D’Amato hit the next three Eastern shots – all blistering 3-point bombs – and his last make of the bunch saw the Lancers trail 45-31 with just over five minutes to go.

Two charity tosses by Berlin’s Ryan Stec (six points) made it a 19-point game with 1:58 remaining as the Redcoats held final control of the game.

To finish the scoring, a long jumper by Lawrence-Bynum and two hoops from Jalen Stokes (four points) saw the Lancers end up on the wrong side of a 56-37 final as Eastern hopes to be back to full strength in the very near future.

“The frustrating part is when they come back, you’re trying to mix and match again,” said Ray. “It’s like a never-ending cycle of trying to get chemistry and continuity. Now, when you think you have continuity, here comes two other guys we have to try to work in. That’s probably the biggest problem. The practice time is limited because you play a war like this and now you’ve got to go back to practice but you’ve got a game on Thursday.”

“So your games are backed up, it’s hard to get to work every day [and] you never know who is going to be there sometimes.”

Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball

BERLIN 56, BRISTOL EASTERN 37

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol

Berlin (3-1)                             14 12 13 17 – 56

Bristol Eastern (1-4)             14 7 4 12 – 37

BERLIN (56): Marino Fanelli 4 2 12, Toby Lavender 1 3 5, Zach Skinner 9 2 21, River Eberhardt 4 1 11, Ryan Stec 1 4 6, Jon Morales 0 1 1. Totals: 19 13 56.

BRISTOL EASTERN (37): Nasir Walker-Jenkins 2 0 4, Elijah Borgelin 1 1 3, Lukas Sward 2 0 5, Ben D’Amato 5 0 15, Nate Fries 1 0 2, Preston Guarda 1 0 2, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 1 0 2, Naseem Walker-Jenkins 0 0 0, Jalen Stokes 0 0 0. Totals: 15 1 37.

Three-Point goals: Mariono Fanelli (Ber) 2, Zach Skinner (Ber), River Eberhardt (Ber) 2, Lukas Sward (BE), Ben D’Amato (BE) 5.

Records: Berlin 3-1 overall; Bristol Eastern 1-4