By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern boys basketball squad nearly erased all of a 17-point deficit against Watertown on Saturday afternoon.

But the Lancers came up just a couple possessions short as Watertown snuck out of the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol with a 52-44 non-conference victory in a Central Connecticut Conference/Naugatuck Valley league showdown.

The Indians moved to 6-11 over the winning effort while Eastern fell to 3-13.

Watertown used a massive 22-0 run towards the end of the first period, turning a 13-8 deficit into a 30-13 push, never trailing in the contest again.

But with 1:58 to play in the fourth, the score was chopped to 46-42, Eastern had the ball – looking to make it a one-possession contest.

But late turnovers – along with tremendous Watertown free throw shooting (the Indians went a perfect 14-for-14 from the line in the game) – did-in the locals.

“I told the kids after the game, if we had five more minutes, I think we would have won the game,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “But there was five minutes in the middle of the game we just didn’t play. So as the game progressed, I thought we played better.”

“I think that we just ran out of time.”

Peyton DeFeo hit for 12 points, Abdul Shahid kicked in four three-point bombs for 12 points, Eric Forte added 10, while Sam Weidemier scored eight over a balanced scoring attack for the Indians.

Eastern’s defense forced Watertown to just 37-percent field goal shooting and 27-percent from deep.

And even as the Lancers made a real game of it, 33-percent shooting did-in the home team. Eastern ended up missing 15 of 16 three-point attempts.

But the duo of Lukas Sward and Brayden Dauphinais each scooped in 12 points and gobbled up six rebounds apiece.

Sward also had four assists and three steals while Dauphinais dished out two assists.

But the rest of the squad combined for just 20 total points.

“The frustrating part is one night, it’s this one guy, the next night it’s another, and I would really love for all of them to play well together at the same time,” said Ray.

Trailing by four midway through the first quarter, the Lancers went on a 9-0 burst as Sward dropped in two baskets, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum (six points, two steals) scored as well and when Sward ended the run with a traditional three-point play, it was a 13-8 contest with 1:06 showing on the clock.

From there, Eastern’s offense went cold, Watertown notched 22 straight points and when Cam Guerrera canned two charity tosses, the visiting aggression grabbed a 30-13 lead with 2:50 left before the half.

“We have to do everything right to win a game,” said Ray. “We got taken out of our offense for just a second and that was just enough to give them enough of a cushion.”

Sward then hit two foul shots, plus a blistering 3, and when Dauphinais put back a miss with 19 seconds before the break, it was just a 30-20 game.

Watertown led by 12 at the half (32-20) but could only extend the lead by one midway through the third period at 39-26.

Dauphinais then hit for six straight points to make it 39-32 with eight minutes to play.

A lay-up from Forte kept the game a double-figure affair at 44-34 with 5:29 to play before the Kingstreeters forced several turnovers to nearly draw even late.

“I thought we were able to turn them over a little bit, give us a little energy, so when we make baskets, we were able to get into some sort of pressure that was able to force a tempo but that’s not the tempo we could really play at anyways. We’re not really athletic enough to keep that up for the whole game.”

“It was good to spring it on them when we need it, even down the stretch.”

Nate Fries (six points, three assists) hit four free throws, Bynum dropped in a hoop and with 3:30 left, it was just a four-point contest (44-40).

Eastern nearly made it a two-point game with 1:02 remaining but Sward was called for a borderline offensive foul, and DeFeo nailed four consecutive foul shots late to ice the contest as Watertown led by eight with 18.5 second left – earning a 52-44 victory when the final buzzer sounded.

“Unfortunately, they had a kid who got hot tonight, made some shots,” said Ray. “A couple of our players just didn’t made shots at critical times. I think we had it to four with 1:30 to go and we took some shots that were tough chances. And I told the kids I really can’t fault them for trying to make a play. The extra pass in those situations probably could have gotten us a better look.”

BRISTOL EASTERN BOYS BASKETBALL

WATERTOWN 52, BRISTOL EASTERN 44

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol

Watertown (6-11) 12 20 7 13 – 52

Bristol Eastern (3-13) 13 7 12 12 – 44

Watertown (6-11): Peyton DeFeo 2 8 12, Sam Weidemier 3 2 8, Eric Forte 4 2 10, Cam Guerrera 1 2 4, Tobias Koval 0 0 0, Ian Cronin 0 0 0, Kyle Simpson, Finn Street 0 0 0, Colin Krayeske 0 0 0, Ty Housen 3 0 6, Abdul Shahid 4 0 12. Totals: 17 14 52.

Bristol Eastern (44): Jerry Tatum 1 0 2, Luke Sward 4 3 12, Dante DePass 2 0 4, Ben D’Amato 1 0 2, Brayden Dauphinais 6 0 12, Nate Fries 0 6 6, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 3 0 6, Jordan Chisholm 0 0 0, Zaveyan Tate 0 0 0. Totals: 17 9 44.

3-point goals: Shahid (W) 4, Sward (BE).

Records: Watertown 6-11 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-12.