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HOWLAND -- Gage Elza can't wait until the first open gym at Bristol High School.
The Bristol High School senior hopes his boys basketball coach Craig Giesy is on the court as well.
"Me and him have a shooting contest coming up now I'm looking forward to," Elza said. "He likes to talk.
"He's always chirping in my ear how much better than me he was and shooting and everything. I'm pretty pumped about that shooting competition. I've look forward to it for four years."
The two have that give-and-take relationship.
"I always tease him that I'm better than him," Giesy said. "I tease all my guys all the time. It's a pretty light atmosphere. Our program is run on a lot of sarcasm, a lot of jokes at all times. It's a family atmosphere. That's what we're most proud of as a program."
Sunday, Elza walked into Leo's Ristorante and saw Giesy and sat down for this year's Trumbull County Coaches Association Player of the Year basketball banquet.
He was shocked to hear his name called as this year's boys basketball player of the year, something he shares with his coach. Giesy won the award in 2003. Elza is the fifth Bristol boy to win the TCCA honor.
"I had two to three guys in front of me that I'd assume would get it," Elza said. "Even my coach told me there was two other people in front of me. I didn't write a speech down. I wasn't prepared. I'm still shocked. I'm pretty happy right now."
Elza had plenty on his resume, being Bristol's all-time leading scorer and leading the Panthers to a Division IV Canton Regional semifinal, something Bristol hasn't done since Giesy was a senior for the Panthers.
Elza averaged 26.2 points per game, six rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.2 steals, shot 46.4 percent from the floor, 38.4 percent from 3-point range and had a 75.2 free-throw percentage.
He is the school's third 1,000-point scorer in the last two years.
Elza broke Bristol's single-game records for points (52-year-old record), 3-pointers made, field goals in a game (38-year-old record), along with most points in a quarter. He also broke Chad Oliver's record for most points in a season. Oliver won the TCCA award in 2013.
"Gage put in a lot of time and work," Giesy said. "He had an unbelievable senior year."
Bristol, which finished 21-5, relied on the 6-foot senior guard early in the season, but he started to be more a facilitator for the Panthers as everyone became involved.
Getting to this point wasn't easy for Elza. Giesy said he spent the previous four summers shooting more than 10,000 shots and putting in plenty of skill work, playing behind the likes of Tommy Donadio and Bryan Gabrielson.
Elza is heading to West Virginia University next year to major in public health and possibly looking at job in physical therapy.
"I waited for my chance and my senior year," Elza said. "I played with a lot of talent entering high school. I was looking forward to showing what I'm actually capable of, all the time I put in of what hard work can actually do. I have no athletic ability whatsoever.
"I put in a lot of time and I would've never seen myself this far."
That said, he's looking forward to matching up with Giesy. Who will win that battle?
"I am," Giesy said. "He shoots it better than I do. I'll admit that. Sophomore, junior year he was shooting over 40 percent from 3. He can shoot the ball at a high rate. He had the best scoring season in Bristol history. He was the only guy to go over 600 points in a season. He really put the ball in the hole this year.
"We're proud of him. I know his teammates are going to be ecstatic to hear."