By Michael Letendre 

BERLIN – The Bristol Eastern boys basketball team never trailed in its CCC South encounter at Berlin on Monday night, seizing up an impressive 61-51 win to move to 4-1 overall on the year.

The 4-1 ledger is Eastern’s best start since the 2011-12 campaign as the locals are currently on a three-game winning streak.

The Lancers had to navigate through tons of full-court pressure from the Redcoats (1-5 overall) but once the ball zipped up past halfcourt, lay-ups and free throws were falling in for the visitors. 

“Their pressure defense really forced us into just going to the basket,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray. “We were able to get baskets off of their defense. I think [Berlin coach Brandon Phelps’s] game plan was to try to not let us run our offense and it’s good to see on the road that we can handle that kind of physicality. Last year, I don’t know if we’d be able to do that.” 

“This year, after the Hall game, the same type of game, the difference is this time we won as opposed to last time when we lost.” 

And that pressure helped put together a career night for Eastern’s outstanding sophomore forward Zaveyn Tate.

In just his fifth varsity start, Tate battered Berlin for career highs of 23 points and 15 rebounds – snaring six offensive rebounds in the process which matched the total Berlin was able to grab that night.

Tate was poised, collected, and simply tremendous from the charity stripe – knocking down 9-of-10 free throws to help Eastern get to the pay window for a third straight time. 

“He was unbelievable,” said Ray of Tate. “To tell you the truth, he made some great plays. He was the difference maker. When all the pressure that was out on our guards, which was also the difference in the Hall game, we didn’t have any inside guys. But with us getting the ball to Tate inside and taking all that pressure off our guards and him making baskets and plays, it was tremendous.” 

Eastern outrebounded Berlin 41-24 overall and after Nate Fries (five points, seven rebounds) canned a 3 with 5:22 remaining in the second period, the locals held the lead for good.

“I loved the way we rebounded,” said Ray. 

Brayden Dauphinais added a slick 12 point, 10 rebound double-double, Lukas sward contributed six points and six assists while Ben D’Amato kicked in two three-pointers for six points.

But it was D’Amato’s defense on Berlin sharpshooter Marino Fanelli (seven points) that made a huge difference in the contest.

Fanelli was held scoreless at the half and never got into the flow of the game with D’Amato glued to the senior guard.

“It’s not always about your most athletic kids. It’s about your smartest kids” said Ray of D’Amato’s performance on Fanelli. “He understood the scout, he understood assignments. Fanelli is one of their best shooters and D’Amato didn’t get caught on any screens. He didn’t do  anything to get himself into trouble. He stayed tight.” 

“Fanelli still got some in the end. He got a couple 3s in the end on some different things. But credit to Motts for really doing a good job on one of their better players.” 

Eastern’s bench duo of Jordan Chisolm (five points, five rebounds) and Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum (four points) added critical hoops and timely rebounds to give the staters a rest over game play.

Zach Skinner dropped in 16 points to lead the Berlin charge.

The win avenged last season’s 56-37 setback at home to Berlin back on January 4.

A D’Amato trifecta midway through the first tilt gave Eastern an early five-point lead before Bynum canned two consecutive lay-ups as the squad took an 11-6 edge with under a minute to go.

But Berlin’s Kyle Melville nailed a 3 at the first period horn to trim the deficit to 11-8.

The Redcoats tied up the game at 15-15 before Fries dropped in his 3, spurring a 10-2 run, and when Chisholm kicked in a three-point bomb of his own, the Kingstreeters held a 25-17 push with 2:41 to go before the half.

A late free throw by Skinner saw the Redcoats trail 27-21 at the break but the home team remained pesky going into the third tilt.

Berlin hung around over the first four minutes of the third and when reserve Luke Wadstrup popped in a lay-up with 3:37 left to play in the stanza, the Redcoats trailed by just seven (39-32).

From there, Eastern ended the third in style via an 8-0 run as Tate and Dauphinais combined for all the points and with eight minutes remaining, the Lancers held an imposing 47-32 cushion.

Eastern scored just one field goal over fourth period play, coming off a neat Sward feed to Tate for a lay-up with 53 seconds left in regulation.

Most of Eastern’s offense in the fourth period came off of Berlin’s aggressive defense – leading to foul trouble – as Eastern cashed in from the line by hitting 12-of-16 attempts.

Off a Sward foul shot with 3:19 to go, Eastern was leading by 13 (52-39) before a steal and lay-up from River Eberhardt (12 points), coupled by a 3 from Skinner, trimmed the deficit to 52-44 with just over two minutes remaining.

A late three by Fanelli got Berlin within seven (54-47) with 56.9 seconds to go but the home team was running out of time.

Tate canned his hoop, Wadstrup committed an offensive foul and the grouping of Tate, Dauphinais and Chisholm dropped in 5-of-6 free throws to ice the event as Eastern came away from Berlin as a satisfying 61-51 winner on the road. 

“Last year, they beat us by twenty points with the same personnel,” said Ray. “Skinner had 20 [points] and Fanelli had a bunch of points, so we talked about being able to do those little things in order to defend. We played straight man-to-man the whole game pretty much just trying to do different things. I loved the way we handled the ball. You’re asking your kids not to turn the ball over but there was just a lot of pressure.” 

“I thought fatigue really set in on us and that’s where our mistakes came in. We have to do a better job of handling that.” 

Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball – CCC South Contest

BRISTOL EASTERN 61, BERLIN 51

from Coach V Court, Berlin

Bristol Eastern (4-1)             13 14 20 14 – 61

Berlin (1-5)                             11 10 11 19 – 51

BRISTOL EASTERN (61): Naseem Walker 0 0 0, Nate Fries 2 0 5, Jordan Chisholm 1 2 5, Lukas Sward 2 2 6, Dante DePass 0 0 0, Ben D’Amato 2 0 6, Zaveyn Tate 7 9 23, Brayden Dauphinais 3 6 12, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 2 0 4, Brady Bell 0 0 0, Cheniel Serrano 0 0 0. Totals: 19 19 61. 

BERLIN (51): Marino Fanelli 3 0 7, Kyle Melville 2 0 5, Demetrius Samboy 0 0 0, River Eberhardt 5 0 12, Luke Wadstrup 2 0 4, Kyle Pinto 3 0 7, Zack Skinner 6 3 16. Totals: 21 3 51.

Three-point goals: Fries (BE), D’Amato (BE) 2, Chisholm (BE), Fanelli (Ber), Melville (Ber), Eberhardt (Ber) 2, Pinto (Ber), Skinner (Ber). 

Records: Bristol Eastern 4-1 overall; Berlin 1-5.