Bristol, Lordstown gain win in Div. IV tourney

The Red Devils escaped with a 39-38 win over Cornerstone Christian.
By JIM FLICK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
WARREN -- After surrendering a 10-point halftime lead, Bristol High outgunned Southington in the fourth quarter to take a 60-49 victory in the Division IV boys sectional basketball tournament Tuesday at the Warren G. Harding Fieldhouse.
In a second game, Lordstown and Cornerstone Christian traded the lead in the final seconds of the game before the Red Devils escaped with a 39-38 victory.
Bristol (13-8) was led by Mitch King, who scored 25 points and snagged nine rebounds. Joe Harkelrode added 16 points for the Panthers, while Richard Benchia came off the bench to grab 13 rebounds.
But compiling monster statistics while his team lost the game, Southington's Ryan Gilanyi snared 24 rebounds and scored 17 points. Bristol coach Mark Giesy called Gilanyi "the best player in the [Northeastern Athletic Conference]."
Bristol will play Mathews Saturday at 7:30 p.m., while Lordstown will oppose Windham Friday at 6.
Third win over rival
The game marked the third win this season for Bristol over NAC rival Southington (10-11).
Bristol held a 12-8 lead after the first quarter and outscored Southington 20-14 in the second quarter to up the lead to 32-22 at halftime.
But Southington started the third quarter by scoring nine unanswered points. The Wildcats also played strong defense in the quarter, outscoring the Panthers 15-7 to cut the lead to 39-37. In the opening minute of the fourth quarter, Southington's Dwayne Lettie scored on a short-range jumper to tie the score at 39.
That's when Bristol woke up.
Bristol surges
Harkelrode launched a long-range jumper to put the Panthers up by three points. The next points were scored by Panthers' freshman Nick Brown, who sank a short jumper and added a free throw to expand the lead. Then the rest of the team pitched in, and Bristol outscored Southington 21-12 in the fourth quarter.
"We made some dumb decisions," Giesy said. "We were up and down. But we sank the shots when we needed to at the end of the game."
Giesy noted that his team hadn't played a game for 10 days "and it's hard to keep them focused when they've got that much time off."
In the second game, Lordstown (5-15) seemed in control by halftime. The Red Devils led Cornerstone Christian (4-16) 10-8 at the end of the first quarter and 23-19 at halftime.
But in the third quarter, the Patriots outscored Lordstown 13-2 to take a 32-25 lead at the third-quarter mark. Lordstown shot nine times in the third quarter, but only sank one basket.
Lordstown bounces back
However, Lordstown stormed back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Cornerstone Christian 14-6.
Victory still seemed within Cornerstone Christian's grasp when freshman Elijah Clemens sank a 3-pointer to put the Patriots up 38-37 with less than five seconds remaining. But in a scramble as the clock ticked toward zero, a Cornerstone Christian player fouled Lordstown's Zachary Sutliff, who calmly marched to the foul line and sank two free throws to give the Red Devils a 39-38 lead.
With 1.1 seconds remaining, Cornerstone Christian in-bounded the ball and tried a desperation shot to no avail.
Brandon Wickline led Lordstown with 12 points, while Hugo Mendez added 10 points. Clemens led Cornerstone Christian's offense with 16 points, including four 3-pointers.