By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – In the battle for the Bristol Central Holiday Classic championship on Thursday night, both the Bristol Eastern and Simsbury programs turned the contest into a classic long-range shooting affair.
The teams combined to drain 17 total three-pointers but just as the Trojans were shooting lights out over first half play, the team cooled off considerably thanks to pesky Eastern defense, Simsbury was never able to seize a fourth period lead and in the end, the Lancers scooped up a satisfying 63-55 victory from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium to seize the BC Holiday Classic Championship.
Eastern moved to 3-1 overall while Simsbury (4-1) lost for the first time this season.
The Kingstreeters were on fire throughout, hitting 70-percent of its field goals over first half play, and ended the showdown by shooting 59.5-percent from the field overall.
Eastern dropped in 7-of-16 shots from 3-point land and was able to stave off that hot shooting start from the Trojans.
“We talk about execution all the time but I don’t think you can ask for much more than that,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “We got great shots which was a product of good shot selection. I don’t think we forced anything. I think everything was earned [through] a couple passes. There weren’t any isolation plays. It was just us working to get open shots, knocking down some.”
“We got good mixtures of three-point baskets, going to the basket and getting some post moves…a lot of good things happened.”
Fourteen lead changes and two ties highlighted a tit-for-tat affair but Eastern put some huge finishing touches together to end the third tilt and into the fourth.
With four seconds on the clock in the third, Eastern’s Jordan Chisholm (five points, three assists), drained a huge three-pointer to knot the score up at 48-48 with one period left to play as Simsbury’s growing momentum was quickly slashed.
“Jordan’s three-pointer changed the complexion of the game,” said Ray of Chisholm. “Simsbury was about to make a run away from us. But he makes that big shot.”
And then to open the fourth frame, Chisholm found back-up center Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum (six points, four rebounds) for two consecutive lay-ups.
And when Lukas Sward (six points, five assists) made one last pass to Lawrence-Bynum for another high-percentage bucket – completing a 9-0 run with 4:31 to play in regulation as the Lancers ramped up a 54-48 edge.
“Then, Isaiah taking advantage of the pressure up front making some big shots in the paint was unbelievable,” said Ray of Bynum. “It was a good job of our guards to get him the ball. And it was even a better job of Bynum to get the ball inside and to make those shots.”
Down by four early in the first frame, Ben D’Amato (nine points) canned a three and Brayden Dauphinais (21 points, eight rebounds) sandwiched a leaner around two big 3s and with 3:45 showing on the clock, Eastern nabbed a 14-7 lead.
From there, the Trojans hit five huge threes over a blistering 17-4 run and with 6:20 remaining before the half, Simsbury held a 26-22 push over Eastern.
“It’s a 4-0 team for a reason,” said Ray of Simsbury. “They’re a great team. They’re a quality team, well coached. I bet that was an entertaining a first half as you can get if you like offense. They were making shots, we were making them. It was just going back and forth.”
The Lancers used two late 8-3 runs to reclaim the lead and when Dauphinais hit two free throws with 1:25 left in the second, Eastern was in charge 38-37 – a score that carried over into the third quarter.
The Trojans canned 8-of-14 three-pointers by the completion of the first half but limped to a 2-of-9 showing the rest of the way.
A bank shot by Simsbury’s Ryan Donahue (team-high 20 points) gave the visitors a one-point edge early in the third period before a 7-0 jaunt from the Lancers – sealed off by a three-point play from Zaveyn Tate (10 points, four rebounds, 3 assists) propelled Eastern to a 45-39 edge with 3:22 left in the third.
Both teams retook the lead via dueling 9-0 runs but Lawrence-Bynum’s final lay-in gave Eastern that 54-48 push with 4:31 left in regulation.
“We just sat toe-to-toe with them,” said Ray. “We played man-to-man, defense on both sides of the floor, nobody extended, nobody changed any defenses. It was just who’s going to execute more.”
“We just had a few more than they did.”
But Eastern couldn’t shake Simsbury and when Nick Cordani hit a hoop with 2:11 showing on the clock, the Trojans were down just one (56-55).
The Lancers’ edge was only three with less than two minutes to play as Simsbury went to its 1-3-1 defense – looking to steal the ball away from Eastern’s excellent ball-handlers.
It didn’t work, the Trojans were forced to foul and it was 1-and-1 time for the Kingstreeters the rest of the way.
Drew Fries (six points, five rebounds) went 1-for-2 on the first attempts and when Simsbury missed against, it was Dauphinais’s turn for 1-and-1 opportunity.
The shooter missed the front end but Fries nabbed the offensive rebound and with 27.2 seconds left, Dauphinais had the ball and was back at the line.
He coolly canned two shots, added a couple more charity tosses 13 seconds later and with 13.7 seconds remaining, Eastern led by eight (63-55) as Simsbury never scored again.
And when Fries and Dauphinais corralled the final rebound together, running out the clock, the Lancers were crowned BC Holiday Classic champs over the eight-point victory.
“We shared the ball,” said Ray. “That was great team basketball. There were a lot of contributions from the bench coming in. We didn’t play fatigued. I couldn’t ask for a better effort.”
BRISTOL CENTRAL HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT – Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball, Championship Finals
BRISTOL EASTERN 63, SIMSBURY 55
from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium
Simsbury (4-1) 18 19 11 7 – 55
Bristol Eastern (3-1) 22 16 10 15 – 63
SIMSBURY (55): Jacob Cohen 3 0 6, Ryan Donahue 7 3 20, Dan Sullivan 1 0 3, Nick Cordani 2 2 7, Shane Butler 1 0 3, Chris Kokines 3 0 7, James Steele 3 0 9. Totals: 20 5 55.
BRISTOL EASTERN (63): Naseem Walker 0 0 0, Nate Fries 2 2 6, Jordan Chisholm 1 2 5, Lukas Sward 3 0 6, Dante DePass 0 0 0, Ben D’Amato 3 0 9, Zaveyn Tate 4 2 10, Brayden Dauphinais 6 7 21, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 3 0 6, Brady Bell 0 0 0. Totals: 22 12 63.
Three-point goals: Donahue (S) 3, Sullivan (S), Codani (S), Butler (S), Kokines (S), Steele (S) 3, Fries (BE), Dauphinais (BE) 2, D’Amato (BE) 3, Chisolm (BE).
Records: Bristol Eastern 3-1 overall; Simsbury 4-1.
TBE Tournament MVP – Brayden Dauphinais, Bristol Eastern (17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists-per-game over tournament play).
