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Bristol badgers Braves
Panthers clinch
district title with
third-quarter run
By BOB ETTINGER
ORWELL
Bristol boys basketball coach Craig Giesy pulled each of his starters off the floor in the waning moments of the Division IV district final and gave each of the Panthers a much-deserved bear hug as they made their way to bench.
By that point, the Panthers were putting the final touches on a 52-39 victory over Badger.
“I was just thinking how hard they’ve all worked,” Giesy said. “Gage [Elza] especially. We’ve had a great group of parents and alumni through the years who have put in a lot of time. After how much time everybody put it in, to finally get it, is just refreshing. We finally got it done.”
Those hugs were years in the making as Bristol finally got over the hump after falling short in three of the last four district tournaments.
“We always came up short,” Elza said. “Every summer we came back and said we were going to work that much harder. Every year it was always the same. It means the world to win this game. The program has wanted it for so long. It’s the only goal we’ve had. Conference championships are good, but the tournament is the only thing that’s mattered.”
The Panthers (21-4) will play Richmond Heights in a Division IV regional semifinal at Canton Fieldhouse at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“Richmond Heights is a whole other game,” Giesy said. “They’ve got a lot of speed and athleticism. It will be nice to go down to the Fieldhouse and have the boys experience that environment. We will have to put a good game together.”
The Braves (19-6) surrendered a pair of buckets to open the second half turning a five-point deficit at the half into a 10-point hole, 25-15, with 7:06 to play in the third quarter.
“That affected us quite a bit,” Badger coach Josh Upshire said. “Our goal coming out of the half is always to win the first three minutes of the third quarter. The way that unfolded — we turned the ball over, they made easy shots and they hit a 3-pointer there. That hurt us quite a bit. We got rattled. I should’ve called a timeout there. In the past, we’d done a great job battling through and I thought we could do it tonight. I should have called a timeout and calmed them down a bit there.”
Elza hit a jumper and a 3-pointer following Braves’ turnovers to open that third period. The Panthers outscored Badger, 20-10, in the quarter.
“In the third we got a lot of deflections,” Giesy said. “In the first quarter, we got deflections but we didn’t get the loose balls. In the third, we got the loose balls. We got a couple of layups, Gage got the 3 and it snowballed for us.”
Elza and Matt Church each scored 14 points to pace the Panthers and Damion Durst chipped in with 11.
Aiden Miller led Badger with 17 points.