By Michael Letendre
PLAINVILLE – Opening the season against the Plainville boys basketball team on the road is never an easy thing.
The Blue Devils always play hard from the Ivan Wood Gymnasium in Plainville and on Thursday evening, the squad from Bristol Eastern had its hands full until the final buzzer sounded.
Leading by seven late, the Lancers limited the Blue Devils to just one point over the final 2:59 to secure a huge 66-50 victory in a CCC South showdown.
Pesky Plainville chopped a 16-point deficit midway through the final period to seven with three minutes to play.
But Eastern’s 56-49 lead was never threatened as suffocating defense by the Kingstreeters led to a game-ending 10-1 push as the road team won by 16 points in the end.
“We tried to work hard because the game was getting close,” said Eastern’s Zaveyn Tate. “We had to work, dig hard, dig deep.”
And the entire squad came together to stave off Plainville.
Tate went a slick 5-of-6 from the field, scooping up 15 points, eight rebounds, a couple blocks and a few steals.
Point guard Lukas Sward sizzled, zipping up 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Brayden Dauphinais collected 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists while rejecting two shots and Brady Bell – making his first scholastic start – added seven points and eight rebounds in a big time effort.
Jordan Chisholm scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds while Ben D’Amato (six points, two 3s), Naseem Walker (five points), and Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum (three rebounds) all added something to the till.
And with the game hanging in the balance late, Eastern held Plainville without a field goal over the final 179 seconds, yielding a single free throw.
“It was a matter of just getting a couple baskets on our end,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray of the late run. “Plainville has two dynamic guards [in Brady Wieczorek and Joseph Vasquez] that were giving us fits. There were tough matchups everywhere. We had to do a better job of not giving up the second shot. We played great defense and we grabbed a couple of those [rebounds], now we’re running out and getting easier shots.”
“Instead, Plainville’s getting the ball, they’re getting [baskets] and now we’re grinding out the game.”
Wiezorek showed poise in nabbing a game-high 22 points while Vasquez added 15.
But the other seven Plainville players were limited to a combined 13 points as Plainville shot less than 36-percent from the field.
The Kingstreeters were on fire to start the contest as Dauphinais cashed in on two 3s, Bell nailed one of his own, Tate added two hoops via strong moves to the rim and when Dauphinais found Sward for a neat lay-up, Eastern led 17-4 with 2:38 left to play in the first period.
“In the beginning of the game, we were getting misses, running out and getting easy baskets, easy possessions,” said Ray.
Plainville closed the gap with a couple threes, trimming the score to 19-13 but an 8-0 Eastern run made it a double-figure event again.
Sward put back a miss and off lay-ups and put-backs by Tate and Dauphinais, the Lancers stretched out their cushion to 27-13 with 4:34 remaining before the half.
Later in the frame, Walker jammed home a three, Dauphinais canned two charity tosses and when D’Amato kicked in a 3, Eastern’s edge at the halftime break was 35-20.
“I’ve got a lot of guys that can make plays,” said Ray. “As you saw, there were a lot of different guys making plays in that situation which was helpful.”
Plainville hung around to open the third period as Wieczorek went on a 7-2 run all by himself to make it a 39-29 contest with 4:40 to go in the stanza.
However, a 9-2 push – highlighted by another D’Amato 3 – gave the visitors an imposing 48-31 edge with 45.7 seconds remaining in the third.
“I think that’s our strength. I mean if you’re going to help off, there’s another” player ready to shoot and score said Ray. “I don’t think we recognized the mismatches as well as we did in the preseason but that’s to be expected in your first game. It’s a little bit different. I think we were a little bit sloppy in that part of the game but, at the end of the day, you saw the maturity.”
“Two years ago, that’s not a win. Last year, it’s a 50-50 ballgame. This year, it’s a win and these guys have been on the floor for a long time.”
A traditional three-point play by Wieczorek and a blistering 3 from Jayden Castro cut the Eastern edge to 48-37 with eight minutes to play as the Blue Devils were hanging around.
Eastern traded baskets with Plainville over the fourth and final period but Sward hit a lay-up, then hooked up Bell for a bucket and when Sward hit a free throw, the Kingsteeters were in charge at 56-43 with 3:49 remaining.
“Luke being able to scream out, ‘composure, composure, composure’ is the big thing,” said Ray of his veteran point guard.
Plainville then popped off six straight points from Wieczorek and Vasquez and suddenly, Plainville was trailing just 56-49 with 2:59 to go.
“We had to go possession for possession at the end in that little spurt,” said Ray. “But our guys did show composure.”
After missing four straight free throws, Dauphinais swung a slick pass to Sward for a lay-in and after a couple Plainville misses, Walker and Tate went a combined 4-for-4 from the foul line.
And with 57.2 seconds left, Eastern led it 62-49 as the home team was nearly down and out.
Tate put back a late miss and when Sward coolly splashed in two charity tosses to end it, the Lancers won opening night via a 66-50 final.
“It feels great,” said Tate of the win. “[There’s] many more to come.”
Bristol Eastern Boys Basketball – CCC South Confrontation
BRISTOL EASTERN 66, PLAINVILLE 50
from the Ivan Wood Gymnasium, Plainville
Bristol Eastern (1-0) 17 18 13 18 – 66
Plainville (0-1) 10 10 17 13 – 50
BRISTOL EASTERN (66): Brady Bell 2 2 7, Zaveyn Tate 5 5 15, Brayden Dauphinais 3 3 11, Lukas Sward 6 3 15, Jordan Chisholm 3 1 7, Ben D’Amato 2 0 6, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 0 0 0, Naseem Walker 1 2 5, Dante DePass 0 0 0, Ben Kozikowski 0 0 0. Totals: 22 16 66.
PLAINVILLE (50): Brady Wieczorek 9 1 22, Joseph Vasquez 6 3 15, Christian Marfia 0 0 0, Jayden Castro 2 1 6, Nijaz Srdanovic 2 0 4, Javier Rodriguez 0 0 0, Jon Kafka 0 0 0, Chase Gray 0 0 0, Alex Ortiz 1 0 3. Totals: 20 5 50.
Three-point goals: Brady Bell (BE), Brayden Dauphinais (BE) 2, Ben D’Amato (BE) 2, Naseem Walker (BE), Brady Wieczorek (P) 3, Jayden Castro (P), Alex Ortiz (P).
Records: Bristol Eastern 1-0 overall; Plainville 0-1.
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