43
Bristol boys stay unbeaten
By Jim flick
BRISTOLVILLE
The Bristol High boys basketball team outscored Lordstown 17-2 in the second quarter on the way to a 59-43 victory Wednesday night.
The undefeated Panthers outscored the Red Devils, 18-10, in the first quarter to take an early lead.
But in the second quarter, Bristol (5-0, 2-0 Northern Athletic Conference), scored 17 points while holding Lordstown (2-5, 2-2 NAC) without a field goal. The Red Devils were limited to only two points on free throws in the quarter.
“We had a good second quarter,” Bristol coach Craig Giesy said. “We put good pressure on the ball.
“I give Lordstown a lot of credit. They made us work tonight.”
After Bristol built a 35-12 halftime lead, Lordstown turned it on the second half, outscoring the Panthers 31-24 in the third and fourth quarters.
Bristol was led by senior Chad Oliver and junior Brandon Lee, who each scored 18 points. Oliver also grabbed 11 rebounds, while Lee pulled down seven missed shots.
Junior Gary Hopson and freshman Alex Jones each scored eight points for Bristol.
Lordstown was led by junior Jake Jones, who scored 18 points, including 14 in the second half. Nick Johnson, a junior, added 14 points for the Red Devils.
Members of the winning team were surprisingly modest.
“I thought we played little sloppy tonight,” said Lee, who sank three 3-pointers in the first half to help the Panthers build their early lead. “It was a good win, but it could’ve been better.”
“We’ve definitely played a lot better,” Oliver said. “Tonight we didn’t show how we play basketball, what it’s all about. No ball pressure, really, tonight. We can play a lot better.”
Said Giesy: “You got to give Lordstown credit. [Lordstown coach Brent Villella] gets them ready them ready to play and they play us tough every time.
“We were happy with our rotation and our ball pressure at the beginning of the game. [Lordstown] played hard. You got to give them credit.”
“Bristol dug us in a hole real early,” Villella said. “This is the first time we’ve seen this type of pressure in a game situation. I thought our kids did a really great of competing.
“We’re very proud of our kids. They showed their resiliency tonight. They could have packed it in real early, but they kept competing. You have two really tough groups of kids that played real hard tonight.”
Lee scored the first points of the night, sinking a 3-point shot. Bristol quickly built an 11-5 lead, but Lordstown narrowed the lead to 11-8. Bristol went on a 7-0 scoring binge to end the first quarter, before blasting Lordstown in the second quarter.
Lordstown started the third quarter by outscoring Bristol 10-3, but that binge only drew the Red Devils within 16 points of the lead, 38-22.
A field goal by Jones at the start of the fourth quarter cut Bristol’s lead to 13 points, 48-35.
But Bristol built the lead to 16 points again by the final buzzer.