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Bristol ‘paddles’ Maplewood with more intensity

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Landon Slusher of Bristol goes up for the score as Ryan Sheely of Maplewood defends in “The Battle for the Paddle” Tuesday.

MECCA — The Bristol boys basketball team is developing a knack for dialing up the intensity at the perfect moment. The Panthers hit the spot on that dial to bring on a momentum-changing first-period run that propelled them to a 51-38 victory over Maplewood in “The Battle for the Paddle” on Tuesday night at Oscar Grant Gymnasium.

The Rockets established the inside game in the form of Zach Dawson in the opening minutes and looked to be in control after he scored on three straight possessions and Alex Ventura and Matt Sheely each added buckets for a 10-6 Maplewood lead with 3:45 to play in the first quarter.

Over the remainder of the period, the Panthers (2-0) put on a clinic in intensity with a 14-0 run to take a 20-10 lead heading into the second.

“We made shots,” Bristol coach Craig Giesy said. “We did a good job turning them over in the first half. Early on, we didn’t capitalize. They did a nice job getting the ball inside and they converted. We got some turnovers, made some shots and turned the momentum a little bit.”

Tommy Donadio connected on a pair of triples and Bryan Gabrielson and Gage Elza each added one of their own during the stretch. All told, the Panthers knocked down six of their eight 3-pointers in the quarter.

“It’s important to get Zach involved, but it can’t just be Zach,” Maplewood coach Nathan Kish said. “It’s got to be a team effort. We got the ball to Zach and he made a few good moves and got us some big buckets. Then we fell apart. We didn’t handle the ball and we didn’t match their intensity.”

“Maplewood is a good team,” Giesy said. “They have good spacing and their guys make good decisions, for the most part. There were a couple of plays we had good rotation and we were able to make some plays. We were both playing tired. I’ve been a part of a lot of Bristol-Maplewood games and it’s never not a grind for the winner and we both know that going in.”

The Rockets (1-1) got buckets from Collin Crowe, Jared Bedlion and Bobby Evan to cut the deficit to six, 24-18, with 1:36 to play in the first half. They trailed, 26-18, at the break.

Dawson, who finished with 14 points, was never as much a factor as he was in the opening minutes.

“We did it with pressure,” Giesy said. “We were making him catch it in places he doesn’t feel as comfortable as he does down on the block. He’s a big boy and when he catches the ball down on the block, you’re going to have a hard time finding someone who can stop him.”

Maplewood was never closer than seven points the rest of the night and that didn’t happen until Dillon Dixon hit a 3-pointer to make it 45-38 midway through the final period.

“If I could sum up the entire game, they were the hardest workers on the floor,” Kish said. “They were more intense. They were stronger. They were more physical. If you were sitting in the stands, just a neutral party, you’d look at Bristol as a team and say they just dominated and outworked Maplewood.”

For Kish, the night can be summed up very easily.

“We missed shots and they closed out hard,” Kish said. “Their effort makes you do things you don’t like to do. With their intensity, they dominated the game outside of those first three possessions. The problem tonight was I was preaching we had to match their intensity,” Kish said.

“I would love to be able to say we beat them because they were not matching our intensity, but it’s the other way and it can’t be that way. It’s the second game of the year. This should be a challenge. We have to step it up if we want to win basketball games this season and that’s the effort it’s going to take.”

Donadio led the Panthers with 19 points and Gabrielson added 13.

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