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Poised Panthers

Bristol holds off Lowellville to reach district final

By Joe Simon 5 min read

BRISTOLVILLE -- Lowellville's Anthony Lucente pounded his chest and let out a roar as the Rockets came back up court after forcing a Bristol turnover in a Division IV District semifinal.

In a game of runs, Lowellville was enjoying its biggest of the game, cutting what was a 13-point Bristol lead down to three early in the second half. The Rockets had all the momentum.

Bristol didn't let them keep it.

The Panthers answered all of Lowellville's runs and used quickness and ball movement to outlast the bigger, stronger Rockets in a 59-44 battle at Bristol High School.

The back-and-forth play was reminiscent of many postseason games the Panthers (12-3) have played in over the years. It was a return to normalcy in an otherwise crazy season.

"It was a typical tournament game," Bristol coach Craig Giesy said. "Well, it was a typical tournament game on the floor, but everything outside was not. We were just joking that it doesn't feel like the tournament because there's no crowd and you're not in a big venue. It's a different feeling, but the results feel just as good as every other year, so we'll take them every time."

Each team did its best to enact a specific gameplan.

The Rockets (11-10) wanted a slow pace where they could run a half-court set and throw the ball into Lucente (6-foot-3) and Cole Bunofsky (6-3) to use an obvious size advantage. Bristol countered with a fast-paced, full-court press style of play in which the Panthers tried to wreak havoc for Lowellville.

Both styles had their moments. Bristol's just lasted longer.

"Our main goal tonight was to speed them up," Giesy said. "They're a bigger team. They can play bully-ball at times. So we wanted to make sure that we had them playing as fast as we could get them to play. To their credit, they made some shots early third quarter to come back. They made their shots. We told our kids before the game, 'This is a district semi. Lowellville is a very good team. They're going to make runs. Settle in, and make one back at 'em.' We did that. We did a good job settling in and not getting caught up in the emotion of the game."

The Panthers looked like they might pull away in the first half.

Bristol went on a big run that stretched from the first quarter into the second, and it had all the momentum -- and an 11-point lead -- at the break, but Lowellville wasn't fazed. The Rockets' Johnny Michaels sparked a 12-4 run to start the third quarter when he hit a couple of big shots. Those came after Lowellville's defense got a quick stop and then forced a turnover. That's when Lucente, who scored a team-high 13 points, and the rest of the Rockets could sense the momentum shifting.

The Panthers noticed the change, too, and they put a stop to it. Freshman Michael Burbach pieced together a huge second half, scoring 19 of his game-high 21 points in the final two quarters. He also grabbed nine rebounds and was the recipient of several nice interior passes by a Bristol team that consistently made the extra pass to find the best possible shot.

"We would have a couple runs here and there, and then they would surge right back and get a couple runs," said interim Lowellville coach Nick Ballone, who filled in for a suspended Matt Olson. "It was just a game of runs. That's how basketball is. We just fell short today."

The Rockets did make one last push.

Bristol had stretched the lead back out to double digits midway through the fourth quarter when Michaels hit two 3-pointers to close the gap to eight. The Rockets had the ball and a chance to cut the lead to six when a charge was called on Lowellville with 2:15 left in the game. It was the final momentum change for Bristol, which found Burbach on a couple of late breakaway layups to close the game out.

"This class, this is the seventh year we've been in (the district semifinal) in a row," said Giesy of why he felt the Panthers were able to keep their composure. "These juniors and seniors saw it when they were younger, and they kind of grew up to it. It's the fourth time in a row we've won this game, so the whole senior class has won this game every year. It was one of those things where we've been here, you know how the game's going to go. You don't need to play your best. You just need to play one point better than the other team. That's what we were able to do tonight."

Jeremy Miller added 13 for Bristol, which now plays Mathews at home in the district final on Friday. The Panthers beat Mathews, 75-70, in their only meeting this season.

"It was a close game throughout," Giesy said. "They have really good guard play. They've been on the road the whole time (in the postseason). They beat Southern, Heartland and now Wellsville on the road. That's a heck of a run they had, and we had a nice win Friday and a nice win tonight, so we're excited to match up with a familiar foe."

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